UC Merced

This dissertation examines various determinants of innovative output, as measured by patenting and publishing. Innovation from a theoretical standpoint is a key to economic growth. I first consider how the increased propensity to collaborate in research and development (R&D) efforts may affect the innovative productivity of firms. Specifically, I ask whether or not international (R&D) networks that exist between firms are key inputs into the innovative production function. I find evidence that limiting competition amongst network partners is key to achieving the positive spillovers that policy makers expect. Next, with Alex Whalley, I consider how efficient research universities are at applying their unrestricted resources towards innovative output. Specifically we ask how university innovation is causally related to the addition of unrestricted funds. We find that when universities are given additional dollars that their innovative output does indeed increase. However, the relative quality goes down as forward citations on marginal publications decrease; indicative of a trade-off between research focused on funding from inputs versus those on outputs.