IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/anc/wpaper/321.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Information Technology, Research & Development, or Both? What Really Drives A Nation's Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco VENTURINI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

Abstract

To what extent are the productivity spillovers of information technology related to R&D activity? Do these factors distinctly affect economic growth, or does the IT impact merely reflect the embodiment of R&D-driven technical progress? Based on country-level data, this work shows that both forms of technically advanced capital (R&D and IT) matter for long-run productivity growth. We control for either the domestic specialization in digital productions or import penetration of high-tech goods. In any case, the national endowment of IT assets emerges as a robust source of spillovers. It is also shown that the R&D base of the domestic producers of IT goods is a fundamental driver of productivity for the industrialized countries. In terms of TFP gains, a low degree of industry specialization in information technology can hardly be compensated by a country's trade openness, ie importing R&D-intensive (IT) goods from abroad. This contrasts to what occurs for less advanced productions.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco VENTURINI, 2008. "Information Technology, Research & Development, or Both? What Really Drives A Nation's Productivity," Working Papers 321, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://docs.dises.univpm.it/web/quaderni/pdf/321.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2008
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evangelia Vourvachaki, 2005. "Information and Communication Technologies in a Multi-Sector Endogenous Growth Model," Money Macro and Finance (MMF) Research Group Conference 2005 10, Money Macro and Finance Research Group.
    2. Caselli, Francesco & Wilson, Daniel J., 2004. "Importing technology," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-32, January.
    3. Dominique Guellec & Bruno Van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2004. "From R&D to Productivity Growth: Do the Institutional Settings and the Source of Funds of R&D Matter?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 66(3), pages 353-378, July.
    4. Leonardo Becchetti & Fabrizio Adriani, 2005. "Does the digital divide matter? The role of information and communication technology in cross-country level and growth estimates," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 435-453.
    5. L. Rachel Ngai & Christopher A. Pissarides, 2007. "Structural Change in a Multisector Model of Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 429-443, March.
    6. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 2001. "Trade in capital goods," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1195-1235.
    7. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2003. "The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth: Or, Does Information Technology Explain why Productivity Accelerated in the US but not the UK?," NBER Working Papers 10010, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Keller, Wolfgang, 1998. "Are international R&D spillovers trade-related?: Analyzing spillovers among randomly matched trade partners," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1469-1481, September.
    9. Chihwa Kao & Min‐Hsien Chiang & Bangtian Chen, 1999. "International R&D Spillovers: An Application of Estimation and Inference in Panel Cointegration," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 691-709, November.
    10. Nathalie Greenan & Jacques Mairesse & Agnès Topiol-Bensaid, 2001. "Information Technology and Research and Developement Impacts on Productivity and Skills: Looking for Correlations on French Firm-Level Data," Working Papers hal-02104933, HAL.
    11. Frank R. Lichtenberg, 1992. "R&D Investment and International Productivity Differences," NBER Working Papers 4161, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen, 1997. "International R&D spillovers, human capital and productivity in OECD economies: An empirical investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1479-1488, August.
    13. Pedroni, Peter, 2004. "Panel Cointegration: Asymptotic And Finite Sample Properties Of Pooled Time Series Tests With An Application To The Ppp Hypothesis," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 597-625, June.
    14. Madden, Gary & Savage, Scott J., 2000. "R&D spillovers, information technology and telecommunications, and productivity in ASIA and the OECD," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 367-392, December.
    15. Robert H. McGuckin, 2002. "Computers and Productivity: are Aggregation Effects Important?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 42-59, January.
    16. Mirko Draca & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0749, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    18. Bitzer, Jurgen & Geishecker, Ingo, 2006. "What drives trade-related R&D spillovers? Decomposing knowledge-diffusing trade flows," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 52-57, October.
    19. repec:dgr:rugggd:200363 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Whelan, Karl, 2003. "A Two-Sector Approach to Modeling U.S. NIPA Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 627-656, August.
    21. Edmond, Chris, 2001. "Some Panel Cointegration Models of International R&D Spillovers," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 241-260, April.
    22. Ram C. Acharya & Wolfgang Keller, 2009. "Technology transfer through imports," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1411-1448, November.
    23. Venturini Francesco, 2007. "ICT and Productivity Resurgence: A Growth Model for the Information Age," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, August.
    24. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    25. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    26. Susanto Basu & John G. Fernald & Nicholas Oulton & Sylaja Srinivasan, 2004. "The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth, or Does Information Technology Explain Why Productivity Accelerated in the United States but Not in the United Kingdom?," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2003, Volume 18, pages 9-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Are ICT Spillovers Driving the New Economy?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(1), pages 33-57, March.
    28. Mendi, Pedro, 2007. "Trade in disembodied technology and total factor productivity in OECD countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 121-133, February.
    29. Mary O'Mahony & Michela Vecchi, 2005. "Quantifying the Impact of ICT Capital on Output Growth: A Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(288), pages 615-633, November.
    30. Oulton, Nicholas & Srinivasan, Sylaja, 2005. "Productivity growth and the role of ICT in the United Kingdom: an industry view, 1970-2000," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19901, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    31. Nelson C. Mark & Donggyu Sul, 2003. "Cointegration Vector Estimation by Panel DOLS and Long‐run Money Demand," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(5), pages 655-680, December.
    32. Laura Bottazzi & Giovanni Peri, 2005. "The International Dynamics of R&D and Innovation in the Short and in the Long Run," NBER Working Papers 11524, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Kao, Chihwa & Chiang, Min-Hsien & Chen, Bangtian, 1999. "International R&D Spillovers: An Application of Estimation and Inference in Panel Cointegration," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 691-709, Special I.
    34. Laura Bottazzi & Giovanni Peri, 2007. "The International Dynamics of R&D and Innovation in the Long Run and in The Short Run," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 486-511, March.
    35. Timmer, Marcel P. & Ypma, Gerard & Ark, Bart van der, 2003. "IT in the European Union: driving productivity divergence?," GGDC Research Memorandum 200363, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    36. Madsen, Jakob B., 2007. "Technology spillover through trade and TFP convergence: 135 years of evidence for the OECD countries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 464-480, July.
    37. Lee, Gwanghoon, 2005. "Direct versus indirect international R&D spillovers," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 334-348, July.
    38. Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2013. "Boosting Manufacturing Productivity Through R&D: International Comparisons with Special Focus on Italy," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 187-208, June.
    39. Jorgenson, Dale W., 2005. "Accounting for Growth in the Information Age," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 743-815, Elsevier.
    40. repec:dgr:rugggd:200256 is not listed on IDEAS
    41. Saikkonen, Pentti, 1991. "Asymptotically Efficient Estimation of Cointegration Regressions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21, March.
    42. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & John Van Reenen, 2003. "R&D and Absorptive Capacity: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(1), pages 99-118, March.
    43. Joakim Westerlund, 2005. "New Simple Tests for Panel Cointegration," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 297-316.
    44. Shy,Oz, 2001. "The Economics of Network Industries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521805001.
    45. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2003. "Computing Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 793-808, November.
    46. Ark, Bart van, 2002. "ICT investments and growth accounts for the European Union," GGDC Research Memorandum 200256, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    47. Dirk Frantzen, 2000. "R&D, Human Capital and International Technology Spillovers: A Cross‐country Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(1), pages 57-75, March.
    48. Ketteni, Elena & Mamuneas, Theofanis & Stengos, Thanasis, 2011. "The Effect Of Information Technology And Human Capital On Economic Growth," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(5), pages 595-615, November.
    49. Brandt, Nicola, 2007. "Mark-ups, economies of scale and the role of knowledge spillovers in OECD industries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(7), pages 1708-1732, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Russo, 2014. "A Stochastic Model of Wealth Accumulation with Class Division," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 1-35, February.
    2. Ruggero Grilli & Gabriele Tedeschi & Mauro Gallegati, 2015. "Markets connectivity and financial contagion," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 10(2), pages 287-304, October.
    3. Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 2012. "Patent Oppositions as Competitive Tools: An Analysis of the Major Players in the European Market of White Goods," Working Papers 374, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    4. Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA & Elena AMBROSETTI, 2012. "Links Between Transnationalism Integration and Duration of Residence: The Case of eastern European Migrants in Italy," Working Papers 386, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    5. Fabio FIORILLO & Agnese SACCHI, 2010. "I Want to Free-ride. An Opportunistic View on Decentralization Versus Centralization Problem," Working Papers 346, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    6. Elena AMBROSETTI & Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA, 2011. "The Remittances Behaviour of the Second Generation in Europe: Altruism or Self-Interest?," Working Papers 368, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    7. Paolo Guerrieri & Sara Bentivegna (ed.), 2011. "The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14361.
    8. Ugo FRATESI, 2010. "The National and International Effects;of Regional Policy Choices: Agglomeration Economies, Peripherality and Territorial Characteristics," Working Papers 344, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    9. Luca RICCETTI, 2010. "Minimum Tracking Error Volatility," Working Papers 340, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Lenzu, Simone & Tedeschi, Gabriele, 2012. "Systemic risk on different interbank network topologies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(18), pages 4331-4341.
    11. Luca RICCETTI, 2011. "A Copula-GARCH Model for Macro Asset Allocation of a Portfolio with Commodities: an Out-of-Sample Analysis," Working Papers 355, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Venturini, Francesco, 2015. "The modern drivers of productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 357-369.
    2. Francesco Venturini, 2009. "The long-run impact of ICT," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 497-515, December.
    3. Mosahid Khan & Kul B. Luintel & Konstantinos Theodoris, 2010. "How Robust is the R&D – Productivity relationship? Evidence from OECD Countries," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 01, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division, revised Dec 2010.
    4. repec:wip:wpaper:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ana Rincon & Michela VECCHI & Francesco VENTURINI, 2012. "ICT spillovers, absorptive capacity and productivity performance," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 103/2012, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    6. Ruge-Leiva, Diego-Ivan, 2015. "The Online Supplement to “International R&D Spillovers and other Unobserved Common Spillovers and Shocks”," MPRA Paper 62205, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Hugo Erken & Piet Donselaar & Roy Thurik, 2018. "Total factor productivity and the role of entrepreneurship," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(6), pages 1493-1521, December.
    8. Ugur, Mehmet & Churchill, Sefa Awaworyi & Luong, Hoang M., 2020. "What do we know about R&D spillovers and productivity? Meta-analysis evidence on heterogeneity and statistical power," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    9. Danny Leung & Yi Zheng, 2012. "What affects MFP in the long-run? Evidence from Canadian industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 727-738, February.
    10. Kul Luintel & Mosahid Khan & Konstantinos Theodoridis, 2014. "On the robustness of R&D," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 137-155, October.
    11. Venturini, Francesco, 2022. "Intelligent technologies and productivity spillovers: Evidence from the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 220-243.
    12. Madsen, Jakob B., 2007. "Technology spillover through trade and TFP convergence: 135 years of evidence for the OECD countries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 464-480, July.
    13. Muhammad Ali & Uwe Cantner & Ipsita Roy, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers Through FDI and Trade: The Moderating Role of Quality-Adjusted Human Capital," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 357-391, Springer.
    14. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan & Hoffmaister, Alexander W., 2009. "International R&D spillovers and institutions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 723-741, October.
    15. Franco Malerba & Maria Mancusi & Fabio Montobbio, 2013. "Innovation, international R&D spillovers and the sectoral heterogeneity of knowledge flows," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(4), pages 697-722, December.
    16. Ruge-Leiva, Diego-Ivan, 2014. "International R&D Spillovers and Unobserved Common Shocks," MPRA Paper 56718, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2013. "Boosting Manufacturing Productivity Through R&D: International Comparisons with Special Focus on Italy," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 187-208, June.
    18. Giovanni Peri & Laura Bottaz, 2005. "The International Dynamics of R&D and Innovationin the Short Run and in the Long Run," Working Papers 250, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    19. Krammer, Marius Sorin, 2008. "International R&D spillovers in transition countries: the impact of trade and foreign direct investment," Kiel Advanced Studies Working Papers 446, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. Dominique Guellec & Bruno Van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2004. "From R&D to Productivity Growth: Do the Institutional Settings and the Source of Funds of R&D Matter?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 66(3), pages 353-378, July.
    21. Anon Higon, Dolores, 2007. "The impact of R&D spillovers on UK manufacturing TFP: A dynamic panel approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 964-979, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information Technology; Productivity; Research & Development; Spillovers; Trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:321. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Maurizio Mariotti (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deancit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.