기술력 격차를 보이는 국가 간의 전략적 R&D 정책의 후생효과분석

Welfare Analysis of Strategic R&D Policies among Technologically Asymmetric Countries

Purpose - This paper examines the welfare effects of strategic R&D policies among technologically asymmetric countries focusing on the conditions for the cooperative R&D policy coordination. Design/Methodology/Approach - The analysis is based on a model assuming two firms supported by their governments’ R&D subsidies that compete in the third country market in Cournot fashion. Findings - We demonstrate that non-cooperative R&D policy competition deteriorates the global welfare when the competing goods are strategic substitutes, while the R&D competition might improve welfare when the products are strategic complement. Since the country with a higher technology level has an incentive to deviate to non-cooperative R&D policies when the products are strategic substitutes and the technological gap is higher than the threshold level, the introduction of international R&D policy coordination mechanism is required to improve the welfare with the cooperative R&D policies sustained. Research Implications - This study attempted to analyze the optimal R&D support policy considering a broader market form and competitive form, assuming both the substitutability and completeness of the goods and the level of the technology gap as continuous variables.