Financial constraints and R&D and exporting strategies for Spanish manufacturing firms

We investigate the role of internal and external financial constraints in the firms' joint decision to export and invest in R&D. We use objective measures at the firm level such as cash flow and financial costs. We further analyze both if firms' size and the onset of the current economic crisis have had an impact. We estimate our model with Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2011, and obtain that both internal and external financial constraints are relevant.