Disentangling the R+D shortfall of the EU vis-a-vis the US

This paper investigates the causes of the shortfall in private R+D expenditure of the EU compared to the US. It shows that differences in the structure of the two economies play only a minor role in explaining the R+D gap. Instead, the European R+D shortfall is mainly caused by a negative intrinsic effect, meaning that companies within European industries spend less on R+D than their US peers in the same sectors. In addition, this negative intrinsic effect is mainly due to institutional differences between the US and the EU15. Government funding of R+D and the internationalization of R+D provide significant explanation as well.