Private R&D Investment in the U.S. Food and Agricultural Sectors and Research Collaboration in the Life Sciences

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three papers that analyze the two key agents in knowledge production processes, specifically private firms and university researchers. In the first paper, I present and discuss the details of a new set of firm-level data pertaining to R&D conducted over the period 1950-2014 by food or agriculturally related businesses operating in the United States. Within the food and agricultural sector, I identify the shifting structure of investments in machinery, agriculture and chemicals, and food and beverage processing R&D, emphasizing changes in the portfolio of firms conducting this research among other details. I also econometrically examine the associations between firm-level sales, profit rates, and R&D spending among these firms. In the second and third papers, I focus on the nature of research collaborations among the life sciences faculty at the University of Minnesota. In the second paper, I analyze the patterns of research collaboration, by using a unique, purpose-built data set spanning 3,305 scientists from three large academic units within the University of Minnesota (UMN) spanning the period 1999-2014. Coauthorship data are used to examine the patterns of internal and external collaborations and how these patterns have changed over time. In the third paper, I use the same data as the second paper, but narrow the focus to papers that are published by only UMN affiliated authors. I examine the three particular types of information signals that researchers use in selecting research partners: perceived research productivity, knowledge complementarity, and professional familiarity. The findings have important implications not only for collaboration among academic researchers but also to collaboration within and across firms, especially when that collaboration targets the acquisition or leveraging of knowledge.