The Impact of R&D Expenditures on High-Tech Product Exports

Increasing high-tech product exports in international markets to achieve sustainable economic growth goals is considered an important element in every country in the contemporary world, where globalization is experienced at the highest level. Although it is accepted that many factors affect high-tech product exports in the literature, it is emphasized that R&D expenditures have significant effects. In this research, the effect of R&D expenditures on high-tech product exports in 11 emerging market economies in the period of 1996-2018 was examined. In the context of explanatory variables that are thought to have an impact on high-tech product export, exchange rate, foreign demand, economic growth, and foreign direct investments were used in addition to R&D expenditures. To analyze the relationships, panel quantile regression analysis was applied. The results showed that each variable had different effects on high-tech product exports, and it was seen that R&D expenditures had a positive and very strong effect. In addition, it was determined that economic growth and foreign direct investment also had positive and significant effects on high-tech product exports. In the light of the findings, it is of great importance to allocate more share to R&D expenditures to increase high-tech product exports and benefit from international trade markets more effectively, especially in developing countries.