Employment Growth from Public Support of Innovation in Small Firms

Link and Scott provide a statistical assessment of the employment growth associated with public support of R&D in small, entrepreneurial firms through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. While on the surface the SBIR program is generally intended to stimulate innovation leading to commercialization, and this is how government and scholars have historically judged the program, Link and Scott suggest that it may be assessed from a different perspective. To them, the extent to which long-term job creation results from public support of R&D should be evaluated.