Panel Discussion: Microeconomic learning and macroeconomic policies

International Review of Applied Economics

Innovation and Development, 2021

Researchers have long recognized multiple ways of innovating. However, the expositions fail to connect the microeconomics of production sets to the real-world institutional variety required to build technological capabilities and innovate. This paper argues for explicit attention to institutional variety in the heuristics used in innovation policy and practice, and analyses three such heuristics. While some types of social challenges can be addressed through formal science and industrial R&D, the most common proxies for innovation, most industrializing contexts will require changes in institutions and organizations to frame and solve local development problems. The analysis thus bridges the traditional microeconomics of production sets with innovation and development priorities.

Schumpeterian growth models revolve around two tacit assumptions that are at odds with the empirical evidence, namely: all innovations are equally important for economic growth (equipollent innovation) and all innovations occur in one sector only (confined innovation). The present paper shows that it is possible to dispose of both implicit assumptions by disaggregating the "ideas production function" without altering the gist of the theoretical framework. The paper refers briefly to the concepts of macro and microinventions, and introduces the concept of "innovatory discontinuity". The extended theoretical framework developed here throws light on the ongoing controversy between neoclassical and evolutionary theorizing.

draft of contribution to special issue of …, 2000

2000

Abstract: Growth and development typically involve the creation of new economic activities. New productive sectors develop, and old activities come to be performed in radically different ways. Evidence ,from both economic history and economic development suggest that this process of structural change is central to increasing growth and raising standards of living. Indeed ,many early ,development theories viewed ,development as

International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 2021

This paper analyzes the conceptual bases of innovation studies at the micro- and meso-levels of analysis. The analysis is carried out from a theoretical perspective and highlights the need to study the business unit (micro-unit) and the regional/local scope (meso-unit) as an indissoluble whole in which value creation and competitive advantages are reinforced and sustained, thereby creating winning regions. Likewise, this paper helps us understand the systemic aspect, nature, and dynamics of innovation, and the influence of the historical, social, economic, and technological contexts that affect it. Finally, this paper highlights the study of the micro- and meso-areas of innovation, including their main schools and research.

2003

We develop in this paper an alternative approach to the New Growth Theory to analyse growth rate differences among integrated economies. The model presented here considers economic growth as a disequilibrium process. It introduces in a cumulative causation framework, micro-founded process of technical change taking into account elements rooted in evolutionary and Neo-Austrian literature. We then attempt to open the "Kaldor-Verdoorn law black-box" using a microlevel modelling of industrial dynamics.

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 1986

1995

The 1980s debt crisis generated an unprecedented level of macroeconomic instability. In that context, stabilization turned essential and the growth problem was relegated to a second place. However, in the last few years, questions related to growth and productive development have been

Annales d'Économie et de Statistique

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Journal of Economics Studies and Research, 2013

The role of innovation in economic growth is perceived differently by the different schools of thought. The neoclassical theories emphasise equilibrium in the economy and cannot explain the role of innovation, because the effect of innovation is actually a disturbance of equilibrium. Schumpeter (1961) has shown that growth and development can only take place if the economy is constantly disturbed to an out-of-equilibrium phase. In some of the later neoclassical theories, innovation was considered as a factor that causes growth, but was treated as an exogenous factor. The "new growth theories" were developed later, including innovation as an endogenous factor, but these theories were still based on the equilibrium principle. In the Schumpeterian and neo-Schumpeterian theories, innovation is treated as endogenous to the economy. Schumpeter had not been acknowledged as a mainstream economist during the time that he developed and first published his theory. It was not until the 1980s that economists started paying attention to his works and to the importance of innovation in development. The aim of this article is to determine how the studies since 1980 have changed regarding their foundation in the different schools of thought. A methodological and theoretical review is conducted of post 1980 empirical studies that determined the relationship between innovation and economic development. It was found that many empirical studies still make use of neoclassical equilibrium models and that the studies that consider the complexity of the innovation system are not yet sufficiently developed to explain the relationship between innovation and economic development.

Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 1990

We are grateful to S. Felder and R. van Nieuwkoop for helpful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies. Schweiz. Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, Heft 2/1990

Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Vol 2, 2010

Is innovation important for development? And if so, how? One popular perception of innovation, that one meets in media every day, is that has to do with developing brand new, advanced solutions for sophisticated, well-off customers, through exploitation of the most recent advances in knowledge. Such innovation is normally seen as carried out by highly educated labour in R&D intensive companies, being large or small, with strong ties to leading centers of excellence in the scientific world. Hence innovation in this sense is a typical "first world" activity. There is, however, another way to look at innovation that goes significantly beyond the high-tech picture just described. In this broader perspective, innovation-the attempt to try out new or improved products, processes or ways to do things-is an aspect of most if not all economic activities. It includes not only technologically new products and processes but also improvements in areas such as logistics, distribution and marketing. The term may also be used for changes that are new to the local context, even if the contribution to the global knowledge frontier is negligible. In this broader sense, it is argued, innovation may be as relevant in the developing part of the world as elsewhere. The paper surveys the existing literature on the subject with a strong emphasis on recent evidence on the macro and-in particular-micro level.

2002

Revue d'économie industrielle, 2004

Cet article cherche à développer une approche endogène de la croissance permettant de mettre en évidence les interactions entre la dynamique macroéconomique et le processus de changement technologique. Nous baserons notre analyse sur deux courants hétérodoxes de la théorie de la croissance : l'approche dite de la croissance cumulative et la théorie évolutionniste. Le premier, développé à partir des travaux de N. Kaldor, propose une approche macroéconomique de la croissance tirée par la demande. Le second considère la croissance comme résultant des processus micro-économiques liés à la technologie et à son évolution. Cet article propose une revue de ces deux courants de pensée, met en évidence leur complémentarité pour finalement les intégrer dans un même cadre d'analyse.