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Ambiguity attitude, R&D investments and economic growth

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  • Guido Cozzi
  • Paolo Giordani

Abstract

The process aimed at discovering new ideas is an economic activity whose returns are intrinsically uncertain. In a standard neo-Schumpeterian growth framework we assume that, when deciding upon R&D efforts, economic agents hold ‘ambiguous beliefs’ about the exact probability of arrival of the next vertical innovations, and face ambiguity via the α-MEU decision rule (Ghirardato et al. (2004)). Along the steady-state equilibrium the higher the agents’ ambiguity aversion (α), the lower the R&D efforts and, coeteris paribus, the overall economic performance. Consistently with a cross-country empirical evidence, this causal mechanism suggests that, together with the profitability conditions of the economy, different ‘cultural’ attitudes towards ambiguity may contribute to explain the different R&D intensities observed across countries.
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  • Guido Cozzi & Paolo Giordani, 2011. "Ambiguity attitude, R&D investments and economic growth," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 303-319, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joevec:v:21:y:2011:i:2:p:303-319
    DOI: 10.1007/s00191-010-0217-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Carbonari, Lorenzo & Maurici, Filippo, 2023. "Firm heterogeneity, financial frictions and ambiguity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. La Torre, Davide & Marsiglio, Simone & Mendivil, Franklin & Privileggi, Fabio, 2020. "Public Debt Dynamics under Ambiguity by Means of Iterated Function Systems on Density Functions," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202009, University of Turin.
    3. Sara Amoroso & Pietro Moncada-Paternò-Castello & Antonio Vezzani, 2017. "R&D profitability: the role of risk and Knightian uncertainty," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 331-343, February.
    4. Eddai, Nahed & Guerdjikova, Ani, 2023. "To mitigate or to adapt: How to deal with optimism, pessimism and strategic ambiguity?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 1-30.
    5. Amitrajeet A. Batabyal & Peter Nijkamp, 2013. "Human capital use, innovation, patent protection, and economic growth in multiple regions," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 113-126, March.
    6. Paolo Giordani & Luca Zamparelli, 2011. "On robust asymmetric equilibria in asymmetric R&D-driven growth economies," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 34(1), pages 67-84, May.
    7. Paolo Giordani, 2015. "Entrepreneurial finance and economic growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 153-174, June.
    8. Ghiglino, Christian & Tabasso, Nicole, 2016. "Risk aversion in a model of endogenous growth," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 30-40.
    9. Romualdas Ginevicius & Eigirdas Zemaitis & Vladislavas Petraskevicus, 2022. "Evaluation of the Impact of R&D on the Socio-Economic Development of EU Countries," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(Special16), pages 1001-1001, November.
    10. Nahed Eddai & Ani Guerdjikova, 2021. "To mitigate or to adapt: how to deal with optimism, pessimism and strategic ambiguity?," Working Papers hal-03590990, HAL.
    11. La Torre, Davide & Marsiglio, Simone & Mendivil, Franklin & Privileggi, Fabio, 2021. "Generalized Fractal Transforms with Condensation: a Macroeconomic-Epidemiological Application," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202107, University of Turin.
    12. Giordani, Paolo E. & Schlag, Karl H. & Zwart, Sanne, 2010. "Decision makers facing uncertainty: Theory versus evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 659-675, August.
    13. Fatma M. Utku-İsmihan, 2019. "Knowledge, technological convergence and economic growth: a dynamic panel data analysis of Middle East and North Africa and Latin America," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 713-733, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Schumpeterian growth; R&D investments; Arrival rate of innovation; Ambiguity; Cultural attitude towards ambiguity; 032; 041; D81; Z1;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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