In the spirit of “The Lisbon strategy”, public policies are redirecting support from investment-driven policies to knowledge building as the main driver for competitiveness and innovation. This re-orientation poses different challenges to regions and RIS concept may be the central element,...

In this paper we study the evolution of the Portuguese urban system from 1864 to 2001. We apply the rank-size model and use rank-size estimates to describe the evolution of city-size hierarchy. NonParetian behavior of the distribution is examined by adding a quadratic term to the basic equation...

We revisit the issue of self-fulfilling “waves of enthusiasm” as stationary rational expectations equilibrium outcomes in endogenous-growth models that merge the quality-ladders with the expanding-variety mechanism. By considering a lab-equipment specification with vertical-innovation...

After a period of convergence where many perceived the country as a success case, Portugal’s economic performance proved to be disappointing in the last decade. In this study we focus on the relationship between technology and economic catching-up in order to answer to two major questions: (i)...

This paper develops a tournament model of horizontal and vertical R&D under a lab-equipment specification. A key feature is that the overall growth rate is endogenous, as the splitting of the growth rate between the intensive and the extensive margin is itself endogenous. This setup gives rise...

Micro-credit and micro-finance emerged in the 1970’s in some Asian and Latin American countries as an instrument for fighting poverty and social exclusion. Using 2006-9 portuguese micro-level data, we estimate the failure rate of Portuguese micro-credit projects as 18,4%/year. This failure...

A number of studies in the literature have recently explored the causes behind the European productivity slowdown from the mid-1990s onwards and the correlative increase in the productivity gap between Europe and the United States (e.g., van Ark et al, 2008; Maudos et al, 2008; van Ark and Inklaar,...

A common and longstanding assumption in the economic growth literature has been that total factor productivity growth is lower in the agriculture sector than in the rest of the economy. Using a stochastic production frontier finite mixture model, labor productivity change is decomposed into...

We propose a theoretical growth model with which to frame analytically the Quadruple Helix Innovation Theory (QHIT). The aim is to emphasise the investment in innovation transmission mechanisms in terms of economic growth and productivity gains, in one-high-technology sector, by stressing the...

The literature on clustering has highlighted several advantages of industrial agglomerations. Persons and firms benefit from the production and innovation activities of neighbouring companies in the same and related industries. Considering such benefits, Michael Porter states that clustering is...