(work in progress)

Abstract:
This study investigates publishing trends among large R&D-intensive firms in Europe and in the U.S. in the recent period. We build a brand new dataset of corporate publications that we match with firm-level financial and patent information for more than 2’150 companies. We find that European firms’ research output, as measured by the quantity and quality of scientific publications, has increased over time. This upward trend contrasts with previously observed declines in publishing activity among large R&D-intensive U.S. firms, a trend that has yet to be observed in the more recent period of our data. Notably, this growth is primarily driven by increased collaboration with academic institutions. The observation of this change in publishing practices raises several questions that we cover in this paper: What is the role played by financial markets in enhancing this behavior in the short term? Does collaboration between universities and industries enhance follow-on solo-corporate science? We build on the results to these questions to conclude with policy recommendations.