Innovation Policies and Economic Growth: the Case of Brazil, India and China

The high economic growth rates that emerging economies experienced over the last two decades have been studied with great interest by numerous economists. Even during a time of global crisis such as the present one, countries like Brazil, India and China (BICs) continue to achieve high growth rates. Up to the present, the growth strategies adopted by these countries seem to have been effective, with some of them growing at around two digits annual growth rates and showing an enormous impact on international trade. But can the strategies and models adopted so far sustain economic growth in these countries? Is it possible that these countries will face a growth slowdown that will affect not only the welfare of their populations but also many other countries in the world in a time of globalization, unless they move to a different growth strategy? This work analysis of a set of “symptoms” that point to the unsustainability of the current growth models of these economies and, in light of the predictions of endogenous growth models, suggests that technological innovation is the only way to sustain growth in the long run. We also analyse to some extent the degree of awareness of the BICs to the importance of innovation policies by studying a broad set of Science and Technology (S&T) indicators for the BICs, trying in this way to determine their technological profile and whether they are using the international crisis scenario as an opportunity to implement potentially important structural changes.