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Political Decentralization and Technological Innovation: Testing the Innovative Advantages of Decentralized States

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  • Mark Zachary Taylor

Abstract

Are politically decentralized states better at fostering long‐run technological innovation than centralized states? Societies with decentralized governments are widely seen as agile, competitive, and well structured to adapt to innovation's gale of creative destruction. Meanwhile, centralized states, even when democratic, have come to be viewed as rigid and thus hostile to the risks, costs, and change associated with new technology, or prone to cling too long to foolhardy or outdated technological projects. Therefore government decentralization is often perceived as a necessary institutional foundation for encouraging long‐run technological innovation. However, in this article, I analyze data on international patent activity, scientific publications, and high‐technology exports, and show that there exists little evidence for an aggregate relationship between government structure and technological innovation.

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  • Mark Zachary Taylor, 2007. "Political Decentralization and Technological Innovation: Testing the Innovative Advantages of Decentralized States," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 24(3), pages 231-257, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:24:y:2007:i:3:p:231-257
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-1338.2007.00279.x
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    2. Emmanuel Muller & Andrea Zenker & Miriam Hufnagl & Jean-Alain Héraud & Esther Schnabl & Teemu Makkonen & Henning Kroll, 2017. "Smart specialisation strategies and cross-border integration of regional innovation systems: Policy dynamics and challenges for the Upper Rhine," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(4), pages 684-702, June.
    3. Fortuna Casoria & Marianna Marino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Davide Sala, 2019. "Local Government and Innovation: the case of Italian provinces," Working Papers 1923, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    4. Libman, Alexander, 2008. "Informal regionalism in Central Asia: subnational and international levels," MPRA Paper 26417, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Feng, Suling & Sui, Bo & Liu, Huimin & Li, Guoxiang, 2020. "Environmental decentralization and innovation in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 660-674.
    6. Jose Guimon, 2014. "Regional Inovation Policy and Multilevel Governance in Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Reports 23655, The World Bank Group.
    7. Dina Balalaeva, 2012. "Innovations as Public Goods Provision with Negative Externalities: Role of Parliamentarism," HSE Working papers WP BRP 06/PS/2012, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. Kassouri, Yacouba, 2022. "Fiscal decentralization and public budgets for energy RD&D: A race to the bottom?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Bryan K. Ritchie, 2010. "Systemic Vulnerability and Sustainable Economic Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13731.
    10. Feng-Shang Wu & Hong-Ji Huang, 2024. "Why Do Some Countries Innovate Better than Others? A New Perspective of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Regimes and National Absorptive Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, March.
    11. Libman, Alexander, 2009. "Models of market integration in Central Asia – comparative performance," MPRA Paper 17510, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Gao, Yanyan & Zang, Leizhen & Roth, Antoine & Wang, Puqu, 2017. "Does democracy cause innovation? An empirical test of the popper hypothesis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1272-1283.
    13. Shu-Hao Chang, 2017. "The evolutionary growth estimation model of international cooperative patent networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(2), pages 711-729, August.
    14. Chi, Meiqing & Muhammad, Sulaman & Khan, Zeeshan & Ali, Shahid & Li, Rita Yi Man, 2021. "Is centralization killing innovation? The success story of technological innovation in fiscally decentralized countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    15. Maria João Camelo de Barros, 2011. "Decentralization of public policies for the promotion of firms’ internationalization. A proposal," Economics and Management Research Projects: An International Journal, Open Access International Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 66-78, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

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