PATENTS, INNOVATIONS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA: EVIDENCE FROM INDIVIDUAL COUNTRY AND PANEL DATA

This paper looks at the relationship between patents and economic growth in Japan and South Korea using both individual country and panel data. For the econometric estimation, we use annual data for 1963-2005. For Japan, we find that the logarithms of real GDP and the number of patents are cointegrated. For South Korea, we do find such evidence. For Japan, we find a two-way causality between the growth of real GDP and the growth of the number of patents. For panel data, we find that the logarithms of real GDP and the number of patents are cointegrated. We find some evidence that the growth of real GDP Granger causes the growth of the number of patents. However, we do not find any evidence of reverse causality.