Productivity growth has slowed across most OECD economies since the mid-2000s. While important aspects of New Zealand’s economic performance have improved over this period, productivity growth is still comparatively low. This continues a long-run trend of poor productivity in New Zealand,...

Similar to economic growth, the process of technology diffusion may well be approximated by easily distinguishable phases (stages). During the initial phase, the process of diffusion slows, whereas subsequently, under favourable circumstances, it accelerates and proceeds at an exponential growth...

This chapter examines how international flows of technological knowledge affect economic performance across industries and firms across different countries. Motivated by the large share of the world's technology investments made by firms that are active across country borders, we focus on...

The paper aims at a joint analysis of inter-firm and intra-firm diffusion of technology, taking as an example E-selling and E-purchasing. The analysis is based on an encompassing model of diffusion, drawn from the literature, which is extended by considering technology-specific obstacles and...

There has been a concomitant rise in R&D and the rate of economic growth in emerging countries. Analyzing a panel of 31 emerging countries, we find convincing evidence of scale effects which make government policies potent for long-run growth. This contrasts sharply with the well known findings...

This paper empirically investigates the role of mobile technology adoption on inclusive growth in 15 West African countries with a view to ascertaining if the positive role of mobile technology adoption on human development as established in other regions holds in West Africa. It used data from...

We propose a novel model of knowledge discovery shedding light on the emergence of General Purpose Technologies (GPTs), the process which has been largely neglected in the literature on technological change. We demonstrate that GPTs emerge only when certain conditions with regard to the...

This paper aims to understand what motivates the adoption of key renewable energy technologies (RET) in early adopter markets. Electrification of heat and transport, through the deployment of heat pumps, electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic panels, combined with renewable sources of...

Research and Development (R&D) activities of emerging countries (EMEs) have increased considerably in recent years. Recent micro studies and anecdotal evidence points to industrialized countries as the sources of knowledge in EMEs. In this context, we examine ideas production and international...