“…Thus it contributes to the large and growing literature on the determinants of R&D investment and to the literature on the economic effects of legal institutions. Financial development, taxes, subsidies and intellectual property rights protection are major determinants for R&D investment (Carlin and Mayer 2003, Bond, Harhoff, and Reenen 2010, Brown, Fazzari, and Petersen 2009, Maskus, Neumann, and Seidel 2011, Hines 1995, Bloom, Griffith, and Reenen 2002, Zhao 2006) and several studies find that a better contracting environment is associated with a higher level growth, exports, product quality, comparative advantage or trade (Castro, Clementi, and MacDonald 2004, Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2004, Acemoglu, Aghion, Griffith, and Zilibotti 2010, Azim and Fujiwara 2010, Levchenko 2007, Costinot 2009, Nunn 2007). Yet, none of these studies considers empirically the effects of legal institutions on R&D investment.…”