Service innovation and the proximity-concentration trade-off model of trade and FDI

This paper introduces service innovation in the proximity-concentration trade-off model of trade and FDI (Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple, 2004). The idea is that innovation will have two main effects on service firms’ choice between exports and FDI. First, innovative firms will on average have higher productivity levels than non-innovative enterprises. Secondly, innovators will have to pay a higher relational distance cost for undertaking export activities, and they will therefore prefer to avoid (or reduce) these costs by choosing a FDI strategy instead. We test the empirical relevance of this idea on a new survey dataset for a representative sample of firms in all business service sectors in Norway. The results show that firms are more likely to choose FDI rather than export the greater their productivity level and the higher the relational distance costs they face.Service sectors; innovation; export; FDI; firm heterogeneity; survey data

Innovation, diffusion and cumulative causation: changes in the Spanish growth regime, 1960-2001

This article presents a model of macroeconomic growth that combines in a single formalization two complementary views on innovation and economic growth, the technology-gap approach and the Kaldorian theory of cumulative causation. The model suggests that what matters for economic growth in the long run is the existence of a good match between the patterns of technological change, income distribution and demand growth. The model is estimated for the Spanish economy during the period 1960-2001, and the econometric results show that important changes have happened in its growth regime over time. Since the 1980s, innovation and diffusion of new technologies provide with a greater stimulus to productivity growth, but the technology push on the supply-side is not sustained by the prevailing patterns of income distribution and demand growth.Innovation; diffusion; cumulative causation; economic growth

Innovation in Norway in a European Perspective

This paper investigates sectoral patterns of innovation in Norway in a European perspective. It puts forward a theoretical framework based on a new sectoral taxonomy that combines manufacturing and services within the same framework. It then analyses innovative activities in Norway and compare them to other European countries by making use of data from the Fourth Community Innovation Survey (CIS4). Finally, it studies the recent evolution and current characteristics of the industrial structure in Norway and points out its peculiarities vis-a-vis other European economies. The results of this work point to a contrasting pattern. On the one hand, Norwegian sectoral systems appear to be very innovative, often above the European average and, for some of the CIS4 indicators and some of the sectoral groups, they indeed emerge as the most innovative in Europe. On the other hand, these high-tech sectoral groups are relatively small in Norway, accounting for a much lower share of production than their European counterparts. The comparative analysis enables a reassessment of the so-called Norwegian paradox. The problem is not with innovative activities, as frequently asserted, but it has rather to do with the sectoral composition of the economy.

The interactions between national systems and sectoral patterns of innovation: a cross-country analysis of Pavitt’s taxonomy

Do national and sectoral innovation systems interact with each other? The paper explores this unexplored question by carrying out a cross-sector cross-country analysis of European systems of innovation in the 1990s. The empirical study takes Pavitt’s (1984) taxonomy as a starting point, and it investigates the cross-country variability of Pavitt’s sectoral patterns of innovation. The analysis leads to three main results. First, the various technological trajectories show large differences across countries, due to the influence of national innovation systems. Second, there is evidence that the interaction between national systems and sectoral patterns of innovation constitutes an independent source of variability in the sample. Third, the analysis leads to the identification of eight sector- and country-specific technological trajectories in European manufacturing industries, and, based on that, proposes a refinement of Pavitt’s taxonomy. The refined taxonomy, in a nutshell, suggests that sectoral systems must be supported by and interact with their respective national systems in order to become industrial leaders.National systems; sectoral systems; Pavitt’s taxonomy; vertical linkages

Technological regimes and sectoral differences in productivity growth

The paper explores a novel extension of the R&D-productivity literature. It puts forward an empirical model where sectoral productivity growth is related to the characteristics of technological regimes and a set of other industry-specific economic features. The model is estimated on a cross-section of manufacturing industries in nine European countries for the period 1996-2001. The econometric results provide basic support for most of the hypotheses put forward by the model. They show, in particular, that sectoral differences in productivity growth in Europe are related to cross-industry differences in terms of the following main factors: (1) appropriability conditions; (2) levels of technological opportunities; (3) education and skill levels; (4) the degree of openness to foreign competition; (5) the size of the market.R&D; productivity; structural change; technological regimes; innovation

Innovation, diffusion and catching up in the fifth long wave

Does the new technological paradigm based on information and communication technologies (ICTs) create new windows of opportunity or further obstacles for catching up countries? The paper discusses this question by taking neo-Schumpeterian long wave theory as the basic framework of analysis. According to this approach, the current rapid diffusion of the ICT-based paradigm marks the initial phase of a fifth long wave period. The first part of the paper focuses on the major changes that characterize the techno-economic system in the fifth long wave, and points out that the new paradigm is leading to several new opportunities for developing economies. If public policies will actively foster the development process by rapidly investing in the new technologies and in the related infrastructures and skills, these new opportunities will indeed be successfully exploited. The second part of the paper shifts the focus to the socio-institutional system, and argues that institutional changes driven by some major actors in the industrialized world are creating a new international regime where the scope and the resources available for State interventions are significantly reduced. The paper concludes by suggesting the existence of a temporary mismatch between the techno-economic and the socio-institutional system, which makes the catching up process more difficult for large parts of the developing world.Innovation; ICTs; catching up; long waves; global governance

The technology clubs: the distribution of knowledge across nations

The convergence clubs literature in applied growth theory suggests that countries that differ in terms of structural characteristics and initial conditions tend to experience diverging growth performances. What is the role of technological knowledge for the formation of clubs? The paper investigates this unexplored question by carrying out an empirical study of the cross-country distribution of knowledge in a large sample of developed and developing economies in the 1990s. The results indicate the existence of three technology clubs characterized by markedly different levels of development. The clubs also differ with respect to the dynamics of their capabilities over the decade, as the most advanced group and the intermediate one are found to be much more dynamic than the large cluster of less developed economies.National systems; knowledge creation and dissemination; convergence clubs; polarization

Closing the technology gap?

This paper focuses on the dimensions shaping the dynamics of technology. We present a model where the knowledge stock of a country grows over time as a function of three main factors: its innovation intensity, its technological infrastructures and its human capital. The latter two variables contribute to determine the absorptive capacity of a country as well as its innovative ability. Based on this theoretical framework, we carry out an empirical analysis that investigates the dynamics of technology in a large sample of developed and developing economies in the last two-decade period, and studies its relationships with the growth of income per capita in a dynamic panel model setting. The results indicate that the cross-country distributions of technological infrastructures and human capital have experienced a process of convergence, whereas the innovative intensity is characterized by increasing polarization between rich and poor economies. Thus, while the conditions for catching up have generally improved, the increasing innovation gap represents a major factor behind the observed differences in income per capita.Growth and development; technology gap; absorptive capacity; innovation; polarization; twin-peaks

Technology clubs, technology gaps and growth trajectories

This paper looks at the convergence clubs literature from a Schumpeterian perspective, and it follows the idea that cross-country differences in the ability to innovate and to imitate foreign technologies determine the existence of clustering, polarization and convergence clubs. The study investigates the characteristics of different technology clubs and the growth trajectories that they have followed over time. The cross-country empirical analysis first explores the existence of multiple regimes in the data by means of cluster analysis techniques. It then estimates a technology-gap growth equation in a dynamic panel model specification. The empirical results identify three distinct technology clubs, and show that these are characterized by remarkably different technological characteristics and growth behavior.Growth and development; technological change; convergence clubs; polarization

How does competition affect the relationship between innovation and productivity? Estimation of a CDM model for Norway

The paper investigates the effects of industry-level competition on firm-level innovation and productivity. We propose a refined version of the CDM model that analyses the impacts of competition on four interrelated stages of the innovation process: the choice of a firm to engage in innovation, its R&D intensity, its innovation output and labour productivity. We test the model on a firm-level panel dataset based on the last three waves of the innovation survey for Norway (CIS3, CIS4 and CIS5). The econometric results provide empirical support for the refined version of the CDM model. They show that enterprises in oligopolistic sectors have on average a greater propensity to engage in innovative activities and tend to invest a greater amount of resources in R&D. On the other hand, firms in competitive industries are characterised by a stronger impact of innovation input on their technological and economic performance.Competition; innovation; productivity; CDM model; CIS data