RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2021-02

Title

Trends in the Number of Patent Applications and Changes in the Curriculum Guidelines in Japan

Abstract

The numbers of published scientific papers and patent applications are indicators of a country's research and development (R&D) capabilities. Since the 2010s, these indicators have declined in Japan. One important factor for this decline is the changes in science and mathematics education provided at schools because education in school can greatly impact the quality of future researchers in science. To examine the impact of the number of class hours in science and mathematics that researchers received in school over the past 50 years, this study analyzed data from two surveys conducted in 2016 and 2020. The results show that there is a decline in the number of patents for the younger generation that cannot be explained by age differences, and it is highly correlated with a decline in the total number of hours of science and math in junior high school. Therefore, a country's educational policies should be implemented only after validating their effects from a long-term perspective because such policies may have unintended negative impacts on the country's economic growth.

Keywords

Research and development capabilities; Number of patent applications; Science and mathematics education; Number of class hours

JEL Classification

I23, I28, O32

Inquiries

Kazuo NISHIMURA
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
FAX: +81-78-803-7059
Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry

Dai MIYAMOTO
Graduate School of Economics, Doshisha University

Tadashi YAGI
Graduate School of Economics, Doshisha University