How to measure innovation? New evidence of the technology–growth linkage

Abstract

It is an undoubtful fact that economic growth depends, ultima ratio, on the production of new ideas. This article aims to contribute to the long-standing debate on the choice of the best proxy to measure innovation and technological diffusion, by offering alternative variables which are tested empirically by means of a panel dataset of 73 countries between 1980 and 2005. Two different proxies of technological progress (patents and a Intellectual Property Rights Index) are used to explain different growth rates of income per capita and, after controlling for endogeneity, our results suggest that both have a positive effect on innovation (and economic growth).