The limits of lending: banks and technology adoption across Russia Çagatay˘ Bircan and Ralph De Haas Summary We exploit historical and contemporaneous variation in local credit markets across Russia to identify the impact of credit constraints on firm-level innovation. We find that access to bank credit helps firms to adopt existing products and production processes that are new to them. They introduce these technologies either with the help of suppliers and clients or by acquiring external know-how. We find no evidence that bank credit also stimulates firm innovation through in-house research and development. This suggests that banks can facilitate the diffusion of technologies within developing countries but that their role in pushing the technological frontier is limited. Keywords: credit constraints; firm innovation; technological change JEL Classification: D22, F63, G21, O12, O31 Contact details: Çagatay˘ Bircan, One Exchange Square, London EC2A 2JN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 20 7338 8508; Fax: +44 20 7338 6111; Email:
[email protected] Çagatay˘ Bircan is a Research Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Ralph De Haas is Director of Research at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Muzaffar Ahunov and Carly Petracco provided excellent research assistance. The authors thank Randolph Bruno and Koen Schoors for sharing their data and Hans Degryse, Pauline Grosjean, Sergei Guriev, Michael Koetter, Mrdjan Mladjan, Pierre Mohnen, Steven Ongena, Andrea Presbitero, Mara Sebastia-Barriel, Burak Uras, Neeltje