Innovativity: A comparison across seven European countries
Pierre Mohnen, Jacques Mairesse & M.J. Dagenais
#2006-027
This paper proposes a framework to account for innovation similar to the
usual accounting framework in production analysis and a measure of
innovativity comparable to that of total factor productivity. This
innovation accounting framework is illustrated using micro-aggregated
firm data from the first Community Innovation Surveys (CIS1) for seven
European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands,
Norway and Italy for the year 1992. Based on the estimation of a
generalized Tobit model and measuring innovation as the share of total
sales due to improved or new products, it compares the propensity to
innovate, and the innovation intensity conditional and unconditional on
being innovative, across the seven countries and low- and high-tech
manufacturing sectors. Even with relatively few explanatory variables
our innovation framework already accounts for sizeable differences in
country innovation intensity. It also shows that differences in
innovativity across countries can be nonetheless very large.
Key words: Innovation, R&D, comparison, self-selection, Europe
JEL: C35, L60, 031, 033
ISSN 1871-9872