摘要：This paper investigates how a democratic environment affects corporate R&D investment around the world. Using a sample of 114,318 observations from 34 countries over the period 2002–2016, we find that democracy is negatively related to R&D expenditure and positively associated with R&D investment efficiency. These findings imply that a democratic environment helps firms improve their corporate governance and thus reduces their overinvestment in R&D projects. In addition, the effects of democracy on both corporate investment in R&D and investment efficiency are stronger when shareholders have strong legal protections. These effects are also stronger at large and highly leveraged firms.
