THE IMPACT OF R&D ON THE SINGAPORE ECONOMY: AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION

This paper provides empirical estimates for the impact of R&D on economic growth in Singapore. The Cobb–Douglas based analysis found that R&D investment had a significant impact on total factor productivity performance in the last 20 years and established a long-term equilibrium relationship between R&D investments and TFP. However, compared to OECD countries, the impact of R&D on growth in Singapore is not as strong. To catch up with the developed nations in terms of R&D productivity not only requires increasing R&D intensity in Singapore but also more efficient exploitation of domestic R&D activity.