| This dissertation investigates the relationships between certain economic factors, mostly public finance, and research and development (R&D).;Chapter 1 investigates the macroeconomic links between sectors and how these links affect research and development across sectors. These macroeconomic links are relevant from a policy perspective because of the myriad industry specific incentive policies. For example, the president's push for more "green jobs" will directly affect and increase research in the targeted sectors: renewable energy, transportation, etc. There will also be propagation effects to industries that interact with the targeted sectors, most notably direct competitors (conventional energy), suppliers (materials, mining), and customers (trucking, airliners, consumers). Understanding the total effect of these targeted incentive policies is crucial to estimating how they shift research between sectors and what kind of jobs they create or destroy.;Chapter 2 considers how financial markets affect innovative activity. Firms, particularly small firms and start-up companies, are dependent on outside financiers (angel investors, venture capitalists, etc.) for their seed capital and research funds. In the wake of the financial crisis, the federal government increased regulation of the financial sector and is still contemplating further changes. Proposed policies include regulations regarding collateral requirements, transparency of investments, and mergers between large financial institutions. My research assists policymakers with understanding the relationship between finance, innovation, and economic growth, empowering them to adequately assess how new regulations will impact the quality and quantity of funds available to firms that wish to undertake research projects.;Chapter 3 examines public tax subsidies for innovation. There is a substantial research literature that studies how taxes affect innovation. My contribution is I exploit variation in taxes at the federal level that have heterogeneous effects across states to identify the effect of taxes on innovation. This research design is possible because individual states tend to offer complementary research incentive programs to those in place at the federal level. My research analyzes the employment consequences, such as the jobs created, and the impact on total research spending of these tax policies. |
