The Effects of U.S. Public R&D on Global Growth

In this Academic Research Seminar Ishan Nath will discuss his paper “The Effects of U.S. Public R&D on Global Growth” co-authored with Gustavo De Souza, Andrew Fieldhouse, Karel Mertens, and Valerie Ramey.

Speaker: Ishan Nath, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Faculty Associate of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability

Abstract: This paper provides the first causal estimates of the global social returns to U.S. public R&D. We use a narrative identification strategy to quantify the effects of exogenous shocks to U.S. R&D appropriations on the dynamic TFP response of 69 foreign economies from 1980–2019. A U.S. R&D appropriations shock equal to 1 percent of the federal R&D capital stock raises foreign TFP by approximately 1 percent after 12 years. This response is driven primarily by nondefense rather than defense R&D and is concentrated in non-OECD economies. These patterns are most consistent with diffusion occurring through openly accessible scientific content, capital-embodied trade, and technological leapfrogging by economies further from the global frontier. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the global social returns to U.S. public non-defense R&D are roughly twice as large as the domestic returns, meaning the U.S. captures about half of these productivity benefits. When he is not thinking about economics, Ishan can be found playing, watching, or talking about basketball. 

Speaker Bio: Ishan Nath is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Faculty Associate of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. His research focuses broadly on climate change, international trade, and the macroeconomics of development. He currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of International Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics, and Research Director for Climate and the Environment at the International Growth Centre. Prior to joining Harvard, Ishan worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and completed postdoctoral fellowships with the Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago and in the International Economics section at Princeton University. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago, an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University. When he is not thinking about economics, Ishan can be found playing, watching, or talking about basketball. 

Whether attending in person or virtually, please register in advance.

The Growth Lab’s Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.