Effects of Fisheries Technological Innovation on Growth per Capita across OECD Countries

Abstract

The environmental problems affecting marine resources and slow growth in the fisheries industry is causing many countries to look for alternative inputs that can boost the fisheries sector. This study focuses on the effects of technological innovation in the fisheries industry on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Using a panel dataset, this study attempts to estimate the different effects of technological innovations in the fisheries industry from country to country using the differences-in-differences (DiD) method. After the DiD method, the Granger causality test is applied to determine the interactive relations between economic growth and the selected variables associated with technological innovation in the fisheries industry, such as government spending on fisheries R&D, the number of patents in fisheries, and employment. The results obtained from the DiD estimation show that government spending on fisheries R&D, fisheries technology development, and fisheries employment positively influences the GDP per capita across OECD counties. From the causality test, we found different bi-directional causal relationships between the GDP per capita and (spending) on fisheries technology development across countries.