R&D expenditure and economic growth: EU28 evidence for the period 2002-2012

In this paper, we investigate the influence of R& D expenditure on economic growth in the EU28 during the period of 2002-2012. For this purpose, we constructed a multiple regression model, which showed that, ceteris paribus, an increase in R& D expenditure as a percentage of GDP by 1% would cause an increase of real GDP growth rate by 2.2%. This model takes into consideration actual financial crises and emphasises the negative influence of fertility rate in the EU28 on economic growth. We believe that the achieved research results can be beneficial to the economic policy makers in the innovation and demographic areas.