EFFECTS OF CORPORATE AND COUNTRY GOVERNANCE ON R&D INVESTMENT: EVIDENCE FROM EMERGING MARKETS

We investigate how corporate governance influences R&D across 13 emerging markets. We find that superior corporate governance increases corporate R&D spending. These results suggest that corporate governance may influence management's discretion to avoid risky innovative projects. We also find that the link between firm-level governance and corporate R&D is stronger in countries with weaker country-level governance. These results suggest substitutability between firm and country governance in generating innovation activities.