The dynamics of national innovation systems: a panel cointegration analysis of the coevolution between innovative capability and absorptive capacity

This paper puts forward the idea that the dynamics of national innovation systems is driven by the coevolution of two main dimensions: innovative capability and absorptive capacity. The empirical analysis employs a broad set of indicators measuring national innovative capabilities and absorptive capacity for a panel of 98 countries in the period 1980-2008, and makes use of panel cointegration analysis to investigate long-run relationships and coevolution patterns among these variables. The results indicate that the dynamics of national systems of innovation is driven by the coevolution of three innovative capability variables (technological output, scientific output, innovative input), on the one hand, and three absorptive capacity factors (income per capita, infrastructures and international trade), on the other.

[1]  Jess Benhabib,et al.  The role of human capital in economic development Evidence from aggregate cross-country data , 1994 .

[2]  Allan Drazen,et al.  Threshold Externalities in Economic Development , 1990 .

[3]  G. King,et al.  What to Do about Missing Values in Time‐Series Cross‐Section Data , 2010 .

[4]  David N. Weil,et al.  Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond , 1998 .

[5]  F. Castellacci,et al.  A new panel dataset for cross-country analyses of national systems, growth and development (CANA) , 2011 .

[6]  H. Stokke.  Productivity Growth and Organizational Learning , 2008 .

[7]  Peter Howitt,et al.  Endogenous Growth and Cross-Country Income Differences , 2000 .

[8]  Jeffrey L. Furman,et al.  The Determinants of National Innovative Capacity , 2000 .

[9]  J. Sutz,et al.  Inequality and innovation as seen from the South , 2003 .

[10]  Oded Galor,et al.  From Stagnation to Growth: Unified Growth Theory , 2004 .

[11]  M. Iacopetta.  Phases of economic development and the transitional dynamics of an innovation-education growth model , 2010 .

[12]  Andrea Filippetti,et al.  The patterns of technological capabilities of countries: A dual approach using composite indicators and data envelopment analysis , 2011 .

[13]  Valeria Costantini,et al.  The causality between energy consumption and economic growth: A multi-sectoral analysis using non-stationary cointegrated panel data , 2010 .

[14]  J. Foster,et al.  Econometric modelling in the presence of evolutionary change , 1999 .

[15]  Sandro Mendonça,et al.  Towards a taxonomy of innovation systems , 2005 .

[16]  Chris Papageorgiou,et al.  Technology Adoption, Human Capital, and Growth Theory , 2002 .

[17]  M. Abramovitz.  Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind , 1986, The Journal of Economic History.

[18]  Diana Weinhold,et al.  Innovation, Inequality and Intellectual Property Rights , 2004 .

[19]  Bart Verspagen,et al.  Technology-gaps, innovation-diffusion and transformation:an evolutionary interpretation , 2002 .

[20]  Jan Fagerberg,et al.  Technology and International Differences in Growth Rates , 1994 .

[21]  H. Esfahani,et al.  Institutions, Infrastructure, and Economic Growth , 1999 .

[22]  Nikos C. Varsakelis,et al.  Education, political institutions and innovative activity: A cross-country empirical investigation , 2006 .

[23]  P. Aghion,et al.  Distance to Frontier, Selection, and Economic Growth , 2002 .

[24]  F. Castellacci.  Technology clubs, technology gaps and growth trajectories , 2008 .

[25]  Bart Verspagen,et al.  A new empirical approach to catching up or falling behind. , 1991 .

[26]  P. Howitt,et al.  R/D, Implementation, and Stagnation: A Schumpeterian Theory of Convergence Clubs , 2002 .

[27]  P. Romer.  Endogenous Technological Change , 1989, Journal of Political Economy.

[28]  Jörg Breitung,et al.  Unit Roots and Cointegration in Panels , 2005, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[29]  G. Dosi,et al.  The relationships between science, technologies and their industrial exploitation: An illustration through the myths and realities of the so-called ‘European Paradox’ , 2006 .

[30]  J. Fagerberg,et al.  The Competitiveness of Nations: Why Some Countries Prosper While Others Fall Behind , 2007 .

[31]  Daniele Archibugi,et al.  A New Indicator of Technological Capabilities for Developed and Developing Countries (Arco) , 2004 .

[32]  G. Gong,et al.  Convergence and polarization in global income levels: a review of recent results on the role of international technology diffusion , 2003 .

[33]  Sorin M. S. Krammer.  International R&D spillovers in emerging markets: The impact of trade and foreign direct investment , 2010 .

[34]  C. Freeman.  Technological infrastructure and international competitiveness , 2004 .

[35]  Fulvio Castellacci,et al.  Closing the Technology Gap , 1967, Nature.

[36]  J. Fagerberg,et al.  National innovation systems, capabilities and economic development , 2008 .

[37]  K. Green.  National innovation systems: a comparative analysis , 1996 .

[38]  B. Lundvall.  Dynamics of Industry and Innovation: Organizations, Networks and Systems National Innovation Systems -analytical Concept and Development Tool National Innovation Systems -analytical Concept and Development Tool National Innovation Systems -analytical Concept and Development Tool , 2022 .

[39]  F. Castellacci.  Evolutionary and New Growth Theories - Are They Converging? , 2007 .

[40]  D. Hendry,et al.  Co-Integration and Error Correction : Representation , Estimation , and Testing , 2007 .