Supply chain issues have garnered considerable attention during recent years, especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas many causes and effects of supply chains have been studied, this paper focuses on an aspect that has largely been ignored—the effects of supply chain constraints on research and development (R&D) spending. Using cross-country data from numerous countries over the past decade, we find support for our main hypothesis that supply chain constraints undermine R&D spending. However, different dimensions of the supply chain have quantitatively different effects on research spending. Interestingly, we find evidence of the legacy of supply chain issues from pre-pandemic days to impact more recent R&D spending. Finally, the main findings are robust to consideration of reverse causality issues. Implications for technology policy are discussed.

近年来，供应链问题引起了广泛关注，特别是随着新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 大流行的出现。尽管人们已经研究了供应链的许多原因和影响，但本文重点关注一个很大程度上被忽视的方面——供应链约束对研发 (R&D) 支出的影响。利用过去十年来自多个国家的跨国数据，我们发现供应链限制削弱了研发支出这一主要假设得到了支持。然而，供应链的不同维度对研究支出的影响在数量上是不同的。有趣的是，我们发现了大流行前供应链问题遗留影响最近研发支出的证据。最后，主要发现对于考虑反向因果关系问题是稳健的。讨论了对技术政策的影响。