Aghion, PhilippeAskenazy, PhilippeBerman, NicolasCette, GilbertEymard, Laurent2014-07-112012Aghion, Philippe, Philippe Askenazy, Nicolas Berman, Gilbert Cette, and Laurent Eymard. 2012. “Credit Constraints and the Cyclicality of R&D Investment: Evidence from France.” Journal of the European Economic Association 10, no. 5: 1001–1024.1542-4766http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12490632We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1994–2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms’ R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) R&D investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes procyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is only observed for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility; (iii) in more credit-constrained firms, R&D investment plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns.en-USbusiness cyclesR&Dcredit constraintsvolatilityJournal Article2014-07-1110.1111/j.1542-4774.2012.01093.x