Development, Capabilities and Policy
Martin Srholec, CERGE-EI, Prague and CIRCLE, Lund University
This paper discusses the role of capabilities - and policies that affect
these - for growth and development. The capability concept is frequently
used in analyses of firms. However, it is also used at the level of
nations. Capabilities at the national level may be defined broadly as
"social capabilities", as done by the economic historian Moses
Abramovitz, or more narrowly as "technological capabilities" as
suggested by for instance the development scholars Lin-Su Kim and
Sanjaya Lall. This paper argues that technological and social
capabilities interact in the process of development, and that policy may
have a great impact not only through traditional science and technology
policies, but also through its impact on the broader social capabilities
which, the paper argues, are crucial for the exploitation of
technological capabilities. Based on recent research the paper discusses
how technological and social capabilities can be measured and how growth
and development are affected. Factor analysis on a broad set of
indicators covering various aspects of these capabilities is used to
generate composite variables of technological and social capabilities.
This leads to the formulation of an econometric model which is applied
to a pooled cross-country time-series dataset covering 100 countries
between 1995 and 2011. Various other factors identified in the
literature on growth and development as being potentially relevant are
also accounted for. The final section presents the conclusions from the
study and discusses the implications for policy in countries with
different characteristics/development levels.
About the speaker
Dr. Srholec is a senior researcher at CERGE-EI, Prague and an associate professor at CIRCLE, Lund University. His research interests revolve around the innovative behaviour of firms, geography of innovation, territorial innovation systems and economic development. He has published in the areas of innovation studies, international economics, regional development and development studies. For more see: home.cerge-ei.cz/srholec/index.html.
Venue: Conference Room
Date: 06 June 2013
Time: 12:30 - 13:30 CET
