Research
BPEA | 1990: MicroeconomicsThe Impact of Corporate Restructuring on Industrial Research and Development
Bronwyn H. Hall
Bronwyn H. Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Discussants:
Ernst R. Berndt and
Ernst R. Berndt
Professor in Applied Economics Emeritus
- MIT Sloan School of Management
Richard C. Levin
Bronwyn H. Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Ernst R. Berndt
Professor in Applied Economics Emeritus
- MIT Sloan School of Management
Microeconomics 1990
MANY CLAIM that the mergers, leveraged buyouts, and restructurings in the U.S. corporate sector during the 1980s had a detrimental effect on industrial spending for research and development. Critics of this recent activity point to the stagnation in real R&D expenditures by the private sector during the 1980s and suggest that these restructurings were a major cause of the decline. Others view this process as a healthy revitalization of U.S. industry in the face of foreign competition and a changing regulatory and financial environment.