This paper introduces the special issue on innovation persistence. It delineates three complementary theoretical frameworks assessing drivers and implications of innovation persistence: 'knowledge accumulation' approach, the 'success-breeds-success' hypothesis and the concept of sunk costs in...

This paper contributes to the analysis of the persistence of innovation activities, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP), and explores its internal and external determinants stressing its path-dependent characteristics. The external conditions, namely the quality of local knowledge...

Innovation is the result of intentional decision-making that takes place in out-of-equilibrium conditions. Profitability is a reliable indicator of equilibrium conditions, far better than competition, as it integrates the effects of out-of-equilibrium conditions in both product and factor...