1,721,582 research outputs found
Structural Change and Innovation as Exit Strategies from the Middle Income Trap
Full text linkThis paper is intended to provide an updated discussion on a series of issues that the relevant literature suggests to be crucial in dealing with the challenges a middle income country may encounter in its attempts to further catch-up a higher income status. In particular, the conventional economic wisdom – ranging from the Lewis-Kuznets model to the endogenous growth approach – will be contrasted with the Schumpeterian and evolutionary views pointing to the role of capabilities and knowledge, considered as key inputs to foster economic growth. Then, attention will be turned to structural change and innovation, trying to map – using the taxonomies put forward by the innovation literature – the concrete ways through which a middle income country can engage a technological catching-up, having in mind that developing countries are deeply involved into globalized markets where domestic innovation has to be complemented by the role played by international technological transfer. Among the ways how a middle income country can foster domestic innovation and structural change in terms of sectoral diversification and product differentiation, a recent stream of literature underscores the potentials of local innovative entrepreneurship, that will also be discussed bridging entrepreneurial studies with the development literature. Finally, the possible consequences of catching-up in terms of jobs and skills will be discussed
Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries
No full textThe aim of this study is to provide a microeconomic investigation of the concept of entrepreneurship; in particular, the following issues will be discussed: (i) the alternative ways of looking at entrepreneurship, distinguishing “creative destruction” from simple “turbulence”; (ii) the different microeconomic determinants of new firm formation, distinguishing “progressive” from “regressive” drivers; (iii) the relationship between ex-ante characteristics (of the founder) and post-entry performance (of the new firm); and (iv) the possible scope for an economic policy aimed at maximizing the impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth. Where possible and appropriate, throughout the article, particular attention will be devoted to the specific features characterizing entrepreneurship in developing countries
Innovation, employment, and skills in advanced and developing countries: a survey of the economic literature
No full textI discuss the theoretical and empirical literature on the quantitative and qualitative employment impact of technological change. I also compare the relative explanatory power of competing economic theories, while detailing the macro, sectoral, and micro evidence on the issue with reference to advanced and developing economies. The main purpose of the paper is to offer a critical meta-analysis of both the theory and recent empirical achievements stemming from the relationship of technology and employment. More specifically, I draw some general conclusions about possible consequences of that relationship
Technology, Employment and Skills: An Interpretative Framework
No full textIn this paper the theoretical literature on the quantitative and qualitative employment impact of technological change is critically discussed and the relative explanatory power of the competing economic theories assessed
Succeeding in Innovation: Key Insights on the Role of R&D and Technological Acquisition Drawn from Company Data
Full text linkThis paper discusses the relationship between a company's investment in innovation and its success in introducing new product and/or process innovations. In doing so, this analysis departs from the standard approach which puts forward a homogenous R&D-based knowledge production function by introducing different types of innovation investments (R&D and technology acquisition) for different sets of companies. Using the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) dataset comprising more than 3000 Italian manufacturing companies, the econometric analysis adopts a set of techniques which allows to control for the sample selection, endogeneity and simultaneity problems which arise when dealing with CIS data. The main findings are summarised as follows: (1) beyond the acknowledged effect of R&D in increasing the probability of success of product innovation, a larger-than-expected role is played by technology acquisition in the innovation process; (2) the relative importance of R&D and technology acquisition varies significantly across different types of companies where crucial dimensions of analysis are company size and the technological domain of a sector
The Middle Income Trap: A Way Out Based on Technological and Structural Change
No full textThis article is intended to provide an updated discussion on a series of issues that the relevant literature suggests to be crucial in dealing with the challenges a middle income country may encounter in its attempts to further catch up to a higher income status. In particular, the conventional economic wisdom—ranging from the Lewis-Kuznets model to the endogenous growth approach—will be contrasted with the Schumpeterian and evolutionary views pointing to the role of capabilities and knowledge, considered as key inputs to foster economic growth. Then, attention will be turned to structural change and innovation, trying to map—using the taxonomies put forward by the innovation literature—the concrete ways through which a middle income country can engage in a technological catching-up, having in mind that developing countries are deeply involved in globalized markets where domestic innovation has to be complemented by the role played by international technological transfer. Among the ways that a middle income country can foster domestic innovation and structural change in terms of sectoral diversification and product differentiation, a recent stream of literature underscores the potentials of local innovative entrepreneurship, which will also be discussed bridging entrepreneurial studies with the development literature. Finally, the possible consequences of catching up in terms of jobs and skills will be discussed
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