Investment and Output of Agricultural Research and Development in China

Technological innovation driven by research and development (R & D) is one of the major sources of long-term economic growth. The impact of R & D investment on research output or productivity is an important research topic. Public sectors had dominated agriculture research systems in China, and private sectors started playing an important role on technology innovation and productivity growth since the government policy reforms, especially the privatization of agribusiness firms. The overall goal of this thesis is to (a) better understand the relationship between public and private R & D investments in the agricultural industry of an important emerging country (China) using a random tobit model; and (b) estimate the output of R & D investments and the other contributing factors using count data analyses. Dataset used in this thesis is based upon a nationwide survey conducted among agricultural firms by Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP) in 2007.;The analysis on the relation between private and public R & D investments concludes that (a) government subsidy and privatization of agribusiness firms have a statistically significant, positive impact on private R & D investment; and (b) the impact of public R & D on applied research is positive and public R & D on development is negative on the private R & D investment, but neither is statistically significant. Furthermore, based on the count data analyses on the number of patents granted to agricultural firms, I find that (a) the patent counts is positively proportional to the amount of investment in private R & D (b) public R & D investment on applied research has a positive effect and public R & D investment on development has a negative effect on research output; and (c) firms with their own R & D center/group have more patents granted than firms that only contract or outsource their R & D activities.;This thesis suggest several channels through which the Chinese government can increase private R & D investment as well as research output in agriculture by increasing government direct funding or positive subsidies on private research; helping firms building their own R & D center/group; strengthening the legal framework for the protection and enforcement of intellectual properties to attract domestic and especially foreign companies patenting their new technologies.;Key words: public R & D, private R & D, research output, patent counts, agriculture, China...