Research And Development And Economic Growth Productivity

This book addresses the rising productivity gap between the global frontier and other firms, and identifies a number of structural impediments constraining business start-ups, knowledge diffusion and resource allocation (such as barriers to up-scaling and relatively high rates of skill mismatch).

Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth presents a selection of recent research advances on long term economic growth. While the contributions stem from both economic history, macro- and microeconomics and the economics of innovation, all papers depart from a common viewpoint: the key factor behind long term growth is productivity, and the latter is primarily driven by technological change. Most contributions show implicitly or explicitly that technological change is at least partly dependent on growth itself. Furthermore, technology appears to interact strongly with investment in physical and human capital as well as with changes in historical, political and institutional settings. Together these papers are an up-to-date account of the remarkable convergence in theoretical and empirical work on productivity and growth over the past decades. The first part deals with the characteristics of growth regimes over longer periods, ranging from 20 years to two centuries. The next four chapters study the determinants of productivity growth and, in some cases, productivity slowdown during the last quarter of the twentieth century. The final five chapters focus on the role of technology and innovation as the key determinants of growth. Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth is, therefore, a welcome collection for academic scholars and graduate students in economics, history and related social sciences as well as for policy makers.

The research underlying this volume was designed to test the theory of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in contemporary context. Developed by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Robert Solow, in the 1950s, TFP has been applied by many economists to investigate the relationships among capital, labor, and economic performance. In this analysis, John Wetter presents the hypothesis that technological investment drives growth and performance of the U.S. economy. The study addresses four key questions: 1. Is there a relationship between Total Factor Productivity and Gross National Product? 2. Is there a relationship between Total Factor Productivity and Research & Development expenditures? 3. Is there a relationship between Research & Development expenditures and Gross Domestic Product? 4. Can the relationship in research question #1 be explained by other factors? Is there any potential non-spuriousness (mediation) implication to the relationship? Synthesizing the literature from related fields, including macroeconomics, technology transfer, and innovation, and applying rigorous methodology, Wetter demonstrates that Total Factor Productivity is positively related to Gross Domestic Product and is mediated by Research & Development. In addition, he reveals that the lag time between R&D spending and GDP growth averages eleven years, which suggests that long-term planning is essential to maximizing the benefits of R&D. Wetter considers the implications for policymaking and industry leadership, including such timely issues as the effects of the 2009 U.S. stimulus program.

In 1972, the National Science Foundation sponsored an historic colloquium on research and development and economic growth/productivity. At that time, the entire field of inquiry was in its infancy. Since then, a great deal of research has been devoted to the subject. This authoritative volume revisits the themes of the original conference and summarizes the contributions of research to the economy and society since that time.

This paper looks at the future for productivity growth in Canada. Chapter 2 discusses theory and measurement issues. Two themes are covered: the link between productivity and living standards; the relationship between theory and measurement in light of the widespread use of the concept of multifactor productivity. Chapter 3 discusses the empirical literature on the determinants or drivers of productivity growth including investment, education and training, innovation, diffusion, and the broader context in which productivity growth is set. Chapter 4 deals with the prospects for future productivity growth in Canada. Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of how traditional economic policies should account for potential productivity effects.

"An essential reference for specialists in the economics of technological change."--D. G. McFertridge, Canadian Journal of Economics