A recent strand of the literature suggests that economic sophistication is a strong predictor of economic development. Given that this branch of literature is relatively young, the determinants of economic sophistication have not yet been fully explored. This study contributes to this literature by examining the effect of research and development (R&D) investments on economic complexity. By applying a dynamic panel model to a panel of 67 countries, the following results are established: First, the results showed that research and development investments are associated with greater economic complexity. Second, when analyzing R&D by sector, the results highlight the importance of research spending by higher education, business, public sector and private non-profit sector in improving economic complexity. In the same vein, investments in different R&D activities, including basic research, applied research and experimental research, increase economic complexity. In addition, we provided evidence that R&D spending in several fields, including medicine, engineering, natural sciences, social sciences and arts, also increases economic complexity. Third, we further analyze the heterogeneity of the results, highlighting the role of natural resource endowment and income level. However, investments in research and development remain associated with higher levels of economic complexity in resource-poor countries in contrast to resource-rich countries, where they have no effect. Based on these results, policy implications were discussed.

中文翻译：

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国家之间的复杂程度差距：研发支出的影响

最近的一系列文献表明，经济复杂性是经济发展的有力预测因素。鉴于这一文学分支相对年轻，经济复杂性的决定因素尚未得到充分探索。本研究通过考察研发 (R&D) 投资对经济复杂性的影响为该文献做出了贡献。通过将动态面板模型应用于 67 个国家的面板，得出以下结果： 首先，结果表明研发投资与更大的经济复杂性相关。其次，在按部门分析研发时，结果强调了高等教育、商业、公共部门和私人非营利部门的研究支出对于提高经济复杂性的重要性。同样，对不同研发活动（包括基础研究、应用研究和实验研究）的投资增加了经济复杂性。此外，我们提供的证据表明，医学、工程、自然科学、社会科学和艺术等多个领域的研发支出也会增加经济复杂性。第三，我们进一步分析结果的异质性，强调自然资源禀赋和收入水平的作用。然而，在资源贫乏国家，研发投资仍然与较高的经济复杂性相关，而在资源丰富国家，研发投资则没有任何影响。根据这些结果，讨论了政策影响。