Content area
Full text
Received: 25 de Enero de 2021
Accepted: 02 de Agosto de 2021
Abstract:
Since innovation is a productivity driver that leads to economic growth, the case of a developing country, Ecuador, is studied. The aim of this paper is to measure the causal effect of innovation on firms' productivity by distinguishing the type of innovation, namely, in products, in process, in organization and in marketing. To do so, an endogenous switching model is estimated using the Science, Technology and Innovation Activity Survey. The results indicate that the productivity loss is higher for innovating firms if they stop innovating than the productivity gain of non-innovating firms if they engage in innovation. The difference between the productivity losses and gains depends on the type of innovation.
KEYWORDS: Productivity; innovation; firms; Latin America.
JEL Classification: O12; O54; D24.
Resumen:
Dado que la innovación es un motor de la productividad que conduce al crecimiento económico, se estudia el caso de un país en desarrollo como el Ecuador. El objetivo de este artículo es medir el efecto causal de la innovación en la productividad de las empresas distinguiendo el tipo de innovación, es decir, in productos, procesos, organización y marketing. Para ello se estima un modelo de conmutación endógena usando la Encuesta de Actividades de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación(STIA, 2011, 2014). Los resultados indican que la pérdida de productividad es mayor para las empresas innovadoras si dejan de innovar que la ganancia de productividad de las empresas no innovadoras si se dedican a la innovación. La diferencia entre pérdidas y ganancias de productividad depende del tipo de innovación.
PALABRAS clave: Productividad; innovación; empresa; América Latina.
Clasificación JEL: O12; O54; D24.
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
1.INTRODUCTION
Innovation has been considered a key factor for economies (Romer, 1994; Schumpeter, 1934) since it boosts the productivity of firms through the reduction of production costs and allows them to access new markets. Particularly, in developing countries, innovation might play a crucial role in the catchingup process since it is an important tool to achieve industrialization (Chataway & Wield, 2000). In many studies, it has been demonstrated that the gap in terms of income and productivity across countries has increased (Landes, 1998). One factor of such divergence might be the level of innovation....