21,276 research outputs found
Innovation: A Guide to the Literature
Full text linkInnovation is not a new phenomenon. Arguably, it is as old as mankind itself. However, in spite of its obvious importance, innovation has not always got the scholarly attention it deserves. This is now rapidly changing, however. As shown in the paper, research on the role of innovation economic and social change has proliferated in recent years, particularly within the social sciences, and often with a bent towards cross-disciplinarity. It is argued that this reflects the fact that no single discipline deals with all aspects of innovation, and that in order to get a comprehensive overview of the role played by innovation in social and economic change, a cross-disciplinary perspective is a must. The purpose of the paper is to provide the reader with a guide to this rapidly expanding literature. In doing so it draws on larger collective effort financed by the European Commission (the TEARI project), one of the outputs of which will emerge as Oxford Handbook of Innovation, edited by Jan Fagerberg, David Mowery and Richard R. Nelson.
Innovation, Catching-Up and Growth
Full text linkMost analyses of international differences in productivity growth present data for OECD countries only. Although defendable from a data-quality point of view, this implies that some important industrial countries that have grown fast in recent years are excluded from the analysis. To avoid this outcome the present study includes the most important NICs as well. Various indicators of economic and technological development and trends for the countries included in the analysis are presented. It is shown that although some convergence takes place, there are diverging factors at work as well. The formal model discussed above is then estimated on pooled time-series cross-country data for the period 1960-1985, and the consequences for analyses of international productivity differences and the slow-down in productivity growth in the 1970s are discussed.
Structural Changes in International Trade - Cause, Impact and Response
Full text linkThe character of the structural changes in international trade, and the possibility that these might impact countries differently, has been a matter of great concern for many observers from the 1950s onwards. The view that all sectors do not offer the same prospects for growth, and that the specialisation pattern of a country in international trade therefore matters for its economic performance, has also been widespread. This paper analyses the structural changes in international trade between 1965 and 1990, the impact of this on the OECD countries and the ability of these countries to adapt to these changes. It is shown that trade in commodities from industries characterised by high R&D outlays grew much faster than other trade. But also some goods from industries that do little R&D displayed high growth (for example clothing). In general, these changes were most favourable for the large and medium-sized countries of the OECD area (high income). Small countries, and low-income countries, benefited much less. There were striking differences across countries in the ability to adapt to these changes. The large rich countries (USA, Japan) and some of the low-income countries showed good adaptability, while many others failed. This holds, for instance, for all the small, high-income countries. It is shown that this to a large extent may be explained by the failure of these countries to carve out sustainable niches for themselves in electronics, the most fast-growing part of world trade during this period.
Is there a large-country advantage in high-tech?
Full text linkHigh-tech is a commonly used catch-word for industries that use a relatively large share of their resources on R&D and develop many new products and processes. It is a widely held view that high- tech is good for growth, and that countries that succeed in high- tech industry perform well. Schumpeterian theory, as well as the more recent “new growth” theories, are often quoted in support of this view. However, the “new growth” theories also suggest that large countries are more likely than small ones to succeed in high-tech. This paper explores empirically the factors behind success or failure in high-tech industry for a sample of OECD countries from the 1960s to the 1980s. It is concluded that although there exists a group of high-tech industries for which the scale of the country seems to matter a lot, this does not extend to all industries where R&D and innovation are important. However, cost competition tends to be more severe in those industries where small countries can compete on equal terms. Thus, small countries do to some extent face a greater challenge in high-tech than large countries
Technology-gaps, innovation-diffusion and transformation: an evolutionary interpretation.
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Innovation: Exploring the knowledge base
Full text linkNew types of knowledge, and new ways of organising the production of it, may emerge as knowledge producers respond to the challenges posed by a changing society. This study will focus on the core knowledge of one such emerging field, namely, innovation studies, i.e. the attempt to understand the social process which enables the continuation of qualitative improvements of products, technologies, and the organisation of economic activities. To explore the knowledge base of innovation, a new data base of references in scholarly surveys of various aspects of innovation, mostly published in “handbooks”, is developed. The paper describes the process that led to the construction of the data base and its exploitation in identifying the core literature on innovation. Furthermore, the characteristics of this literature, the central contributors and the use of the literature (as reflected by references to this core literature in scholarly journals) are analysed. Finally, cluster analysis is used to make inferences about how the field is structured and its links with different disciplinary and cross-disciplinary contexts.Innovation, cross-disciplinarity, emerging scientific field, social science
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