Returns on different types of investment in the global pharmaceutical industry

Using stock market data of 10,550 publicly listed companies between 1987 and 2012, we study the marginal returns on investment for a large sample of pharmaceutical firms and compare them with returns on investment of firms from other industries. We also disentangle effects of different types of investments on total returns, namely, investment in advertising, research and development (R&D), fixed capital, and acquisitions. Our results suggest...