As it takes time and effort to learn how to fully utilise new technology and realise its maximum potential productivity gain, adoption of new technology tends to reduce productivity temporarily, even though the potential productivity gain in the long run outweighs this short run loss. This paper...

Intangible assets are an important driver of productivity and ultimately output growth. Yet, despite their aggregate rise in the past decades, productivity has continued to grow modestly in the majority of OECD countries. This is in part because many firms – particularly young and small ones -...

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia undertook a series of vigorous reforms, ranging from the improvement of regulatory framework to the digitalisation of the economy, with the aim of boosting productivity. While the protracted pandemic has inevitably stalled reform efforts in many countries,...

Enhancing growth through more innovation has become a priority for Austrian policy makers in line with European policies as laid down in the Lisbon Agenda. This paper discusses Austria’s innovation performance, its innovation policies, and general framework conditions for innovation and...

Brazil's main challenge in innovation policy is to encourage the business sector to engage in productivity-enhancing innovative activities. At 1% of GDP, R&D spending (both public and private) is comparatively low by OECD standards and is carried out predominantly by the government. Most...

Key indicators show Germany belonging to the countries in the OECD with strong innovation activity even though some weakening in Germany’s position relative to other OECD countries has occurred recently. While the redirection of resources towards unification-related spending as well as low...

The Hungarian government has recently been focusing on innovation policy as part of a wider campaign to improve the business environment. This paper first underscores the importance of a good general business climate in encouraging both formal and informal R&D activity as well as ensuring...

This paper draws together the key findings from separate detailed analyses of the determinants of R&D, patenting and the commercial introduction of innovations in the business sector in order to identify the policies, institutions and framework factors that provide the most effective means of...

As it takes time and effort to learn how to fully utilise new technology and realise its maximum potential productivity gain, adoption of new technology tends to reduce productivity temporarily, even though the potential productivity gain in the long run outweighs this short run loss. This paper...

This paper uses panel regressions to investigate the effects of innovation policies and framework factors on business R&D intensity and patenting for a sample of 20 OECD countries over the period 1982- 2001. Both sets of factors are found to matter; the main determinants of innovativeness appear...