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Productivity and innovation spillovers: Micro evidence from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Esther Goya

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona)

  • Esther Vayá

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona)

  • Jordi Suriñach

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona)

Abstract

This article analyses the impact that innovation expenditure and intrasectoral and intersectoral externalities have on productivity in Spanish firms. While there is an extensive literature analysing the relationship between innovation and productivity, in this particular area there are far fewer studies that examine the importance of sectoral externalities, especially with the focus on Spain. One novelty of the study, which covers the industrial and service sectors, is that we also consider jointly the technology level of the sector in which the firm operates and the firm size. The database used is the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC), which includes 12,813 firms for the year 2008 and has been little used in this type of study. The estimation method used is Iteratively Reweighted Least Squares method (IRLS), which is very useful for obtaining robust estimations in the presence of outliers. The results confirm that innovation has a positive effect on productivity, especially in high-tech and large firms. The impact of externalities is more heterogeneous because, while intrasectoral externalities have a positive and significant effect, especially in low-tech firms independently of size, intersectoral externalities have a more ambiguous effect, being clearly significant for advanced industries in which size has a positive effect..

Suggested Citation

  • Esther Goya & Esther Vayá & Jordi Suriñach, 2011. "Productivity and innovation spillovers: Micro evidence from Spain," IREA Working Papers 201126, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Dec 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:ira:wpaper:201126
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; innovation; sectoral externalities; firm size. JEL classification:D24; O33;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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