Faraway or Nearby? : Domestic and International Spillovers in Patenting and Product Innovation

Bravo-Ortega, Claudio ; Cusolito, Ana P. ; Lederman, Daniel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: endogenous growth;    growth theory;    patents;    production function;    product innovation;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7828
RP-ID  :  WPS7828

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The diffusion of knowledge plays acentral role in endogenous growth theories. Simply put, inthese models new knowledge can be generated from preexistingknowledge. In other words, existing knowledge is a purepublic good, which can benefit any economic agent anywhere.More generally, endogenous growth theories rely on a broadset of assumptions that have not been tested sufficiently,especially for developing economies. The scope and nature ofknowledge spillovers is, however, important for policy,because the presumed positive spillovers can justifygovernment intervention (if the spillovers are localized) orlaissez faire (if the spillovers are international). Thispaper empirically assesses the scope and direction ofknowledge spillovers in national patenting and, separately,product innovation by firms. The first set of exercisestests whether the cumulative knowledge specifications of theknowledge production function can explain internationalpatterns of patenting or whether own research anddevelopment is necessary to produce patents. The second setof exercises analyzes whether firm product-quality upgradingand the introduction of new products depend on productinnovation within industries, within or across countries.The evidence supports the view that existing stocks ofknowledge, domestic and foreign, enhance national innovationand entrepreneurship in the form of product innovation. Morespecifically, the evidence suggests that within-country andinternational knowledge spillovers are positive, butinternational spillovers can be negative for firms that arefar from innovative firms in terms of productivity. Theresults depend on the concept of “distance” betweencountries and firms.