Marianela Carrillo,

Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)

Tenerife, Spain

E-mail: mcarrif@ull.edu.es

Measuring and ranking R&D performance at the country level

Abstract. In the context of generally growing interest in R&D (Research and Development) efficiency, the main objective of this work is evaluation and ranking of the R&D performance on a set of selected countries with the highest worldwide level of engagement in R&D activities. To that aim, R&D efficiency of the sample countries is assessed with Data Envelopment Analysis, then the overall performance score is obtained with the cross-efficiency method and the considered countries are listed in the order according to their R&D performance. The findings of this study point at Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as the three leading countries as far as R&D performance is concerned, while the countries that make important investment efforts in terms of their GDP, such as Japan or Israel, do not seem to obtain the desired results and need to implement targeted policy actions to encourage R&D outputs.

Received: July, 2018

1st Revision: October, 2018

Accepted: February, 2019

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2019/12-1/5

JEL Classification: C44, H50, O30, O57

Keywords: R&D performance, Data Envelopment Analysis, Cross-efficiency, Ranking, OECD countries