Regional development and R&D activity: international comparison
Regional development and R&D activity: international comparison

Summary/Abstract: As countries could be stratified by the level of economic development, they should have differences in the levels of influence of various factors on GDP. Movement of the global economy towards the knowledge economy has various asymmetries and we believe that research and development activity is one of them. In order to identify reform priorities for Ukrainian economy the paper tested the hypothesis that R&D activity as a factor that contributes to GDP at the local level in countries with different levels of economic development vary. The article provides comparison of the relationship of the main indicators of the R&D activities of the regional GDP per capita in developed countries (the USA and EU) and Ukraine. To meet the aim the author has conducted generalization of scientific periodicals, identified key parameters and used correlation analysis of the relationship of selected indicators. The findings show that there are significant differences at the levels of correlation of basic research indicators with GDP in different levels of development of countries and their regions. The results confirm the law of diminishing returns on an example of R&D. The USA are close to the limits of R&D as a factor of economic growth, the EU lags behind the USA and Ukraine lags far behind the EU. It is the result of long-term efforts that the USA has been taking since the mid-1950s and effectiveness of American world-class research universities. The effective use of the results may create a long-term growth point of Ukrainian economy. This means that investments in R&D could contribute to economic development of Ukraine with higher returns in comparison with the USA and EU.

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