Do politics and administration affect innovation performance? A comparative analysis
Main Article Content
Abstract
The paper’s primary goal is to analyze the effects of politics and administrative capacity on countries’ innovative performance. The inquiry comparatively examines possible correlations between democracy, political competition, income inequality, bureaucratic capacity, and corruption/transparency with countries’ innovation results. The dependent variables are three performance indicators of the Global Innovation Indexes (GII). After presenting the theory and the descriptive data analysis on the research variables, the paper runs multivariate regression models to test the hypotheses. The empirical analysis reinforced that political and administrative dimensions are relevant to understanding the national innovation systems’ achievements. However, democracy, bureaucracy quality and corruption/transparency are not influential factors in countries’ innovative results as the normative assumptions would suppose. On the contrary, political competition and inequality considerably impact how economies innovate. In conclusion, the paper brought original and intriguing findings that put in perspective the claim that there is a unique path or rule of thumb for innovation growth. Consequently, the inferences provide insights to scholars and stakeholders, public and private, to improve the debates and decisions regarding the priorities for government actions in times of evidence-based policymaking.
Downloads
Article Details
The Brazilian Journal of Public Administration (RAP) undertakes to contribute to the protection of authors’ intellectual rights. On this matter:
- It uses the Creative Commons BY (CC-BY) license for all texts it publishes, except when there is indication of specific holders of copyrights and property rights;
- It uses the similarity verification software of content - Plagiarism (Crossref Similarity Check);
- It takes actions to fight against plagiarism and ethical misconduct aligned with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Further information on the Code of Ethics adopted by RAP can be found in Ethical Standards and Code of Conduct.
References
Acemoglu, D., & Verdier, T. (2000). The choice between market failures and corruption. American Economic Review, 90(1), 194-211. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.90.1.194
Andrews, M. (2008). The good governance agenda: beyond indicators without theory. Oxford Development Studies, 36(4), 379-407. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1080/13600810802455120
Atanassov, J., Julio, B., & Leng, T. (2015). The bright side of political uncertainty: the case of R&D. Recuperado de https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6421
Besley, T., & Case, A. (1995, agosto). Does electoral accountability affect economic policy choices? Evidence from gubernatorial term limits. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(3), 769-798. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.2307/2946699
Besley, T., Persson, T., & Sturm, D. M. (2010). Political competition, policy and growth: theory and evidence from the US. The Review of Economic Studies, 77(4), 1329-1352. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-937X.2010.00606.x
Brown, J., & Martinsson, G. (2018). Does transparency stifle or facilitate innovation? Management Science, 65(4), 1600-1623. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.3002
Casper, G., & Tufis, C. (2003). Correlation versus interchangeability: the limited robustness of empirical findings on democracy using highly correlated data sets. Political Analysis, 11(2), 196-203. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpg009
Castellacci, F., & Natera, J. M. (2013). The dynamics of national innovation systems: a panel cointegration analysis of the coevolution between innovative capability and absorptive capacity. Research Policy, 42(3), 579-594. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.10.006
Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2021). World inequality report 2022. Paris, France: World Inequality Lab.
Cimoli, M., Dosi, G., Nelson, R. R., & Stiglitz, J. (2009). Institutions and policies shaping industrial development: an introductory note. In M. Cimoli, G. Dosi, & J. E. Stiglitz (Eds.), Industrial policy and development: the political economy of capabilities accumulation (The initiative for policy dialogue series, pp. 19-37). Oxford, UK: Oxford Press.
Cirera, X., Frías, J., Justin, H., & Yanchao, L. (2020). A practitioner’s guide to innovation policy. Instruments to build firm capabilities and accelerate technological catch-up in developing countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Cirera, X., & Maloney, W. F. (2017). The innovation paradox: developing-country capabilities and the unrealized promise of technological catch-up. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Collier, D. (1993). The comparative method. In A. W. Finifter (Ed.), Political science: the state of discipline II. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.
Cozzens, S. (2008). Equality as an issue in designing science, technology, and innovation policies and programs. In W. Ostreng (Ed.), Confluence (pp. 94-97). Oslo, Norway: Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Cozzens, S., & Kaplinsky, R. (2009). Innovation, poverty and inequality: cause, coincidence, or co-evolution? In B. A. Lundvall (Ed.), Handbook of innovation systems and developing countries (Chap. 3). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Deng, Y., You, D., & Wang, J. (2019, outubro). Optimal strategy for enterprises’ green technology innovation from the perspective of political competition. Journal of Cleaner Production, 235, 930-942. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.248
Deogirikar, A. (2014). The impact of open government on innovation: does government transparency drive innovation? (Dissertação de Mestrado). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Dutta, S., Lanvin, B., León, L. R., & Wunsch-Vincent, S. (2021). Global innovation index 2021: tracking innovation through the COVID-19 crisis. Recuperado de https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2021.pdf
Dutta, S., Lanvin, B., & Wunsch-Vincent, S. (2019). Global innovation index 2019: Creating healthy lives — the future of medical innovation. Recuperado de https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2019.pdf
Dutta, S., Lanvin, B., & Wunsch-Vincent, S. (2020). Global innovation index 2020: who will finance innovation? Recuperado de https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2020.pdf
Edler, J., & Fagerberg, J. (2017). Innovation policy: what, why, and how. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 33(1), 2-23. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grx001
Etzkowitz, H. (2008). The triple helix: university-industry-government innovation in action. New York, NY: Routledge.
Evans, P., & Rauch, J. E. (1999). Bureaucracy and growth: a cross-national analysis of the effects of "Weberian" state structures on economic growth. American Sociological Review, 64(5), 748-765. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.2307/2657374
Forssbæck, J., & Oxelheim, L. (2015). The multi-faceted concept of transparency. In J. Forssbæck, & L. Oxelheim (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Economic and Institutional Transparency. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Gao, Y., Zang, L., Roth, A., & Wang, P. (2017). Does democracy cause innovation? An empirical test of the popper hypothesis. Research Policy, 46(7), 272-1283. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.05.014
Haggard, S., & Kaufman, R. R. (2008). Development, democracy, and welfare states: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Iootty, M. (2019). Assessing innovation patterns and constraints in developing East Asia: an introductory analysis. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Jiang, Z., Wang, Z., Feng, C., & Yi, L. (2022). Local political turnover, R&D investment leap and corporate innovation performance: evidence from China. Science and Public Policy, 49(2), 347-364. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scab090
Kattel, R., & Mazzucato, M. (2018). Mission-oriented innovation policy and dynamic capabilities in the public sector. Industrial and Corporate Change, 27(5), 787-801. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dty032
Lin, J. Y. (2012). From flying geese to leading dragons: new opportunities and strategies for structural transformation in developing countries. Global Policy, 3(4), 397-409. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2012.00172.x
Lundvall, B. Å. (2016). Innovation systems and development: history, theory, and challenges. In E. S. Reinert, J. Ghosh, & R. Kattel (Eds.), Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development (pp. 594-612). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lundvall, B. Å., & Borrás, S. (2006). Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy. In J. Fagerberg, & D. C. Mowery (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Innovation (pp. 599-631). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lundvall, B. Å., Joseph, K. J., Chaminade, C., & Vang, J. (2009). Handbook of innovation systems and developing countries: building domestic capabilities in a global setting. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Mahagaonkar, P. (2008, março). Corruption and innovation: a grease or sand relationship? (Jena Economic Research Papers, Nº 2008-017). Jena, Germany: Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute of Economics.
Mahoney, J., & Goertz, G. (2006). A tale of two cultures: contrasting quantitative and qualitative research. Political Analysis, 14(3), 227-249. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpj017
Marshall, M., & Elzinga-Marshall, G. (2017). Global report 2017: conflict, governance and state fragility. Vienna, VA: Center for Systemic Peace.
Mazzucato, M. (2013). The entrepreneurial State. London, UK: Anthem Press.
Nelson, R. R. (2016). Economic development as an evolutionary process. In E. S. Reinert, J. Ghosh, & R. Kattel (Eds.), Handbook of alternative theories of economic development (pp. 323-335). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Nistotskaya, M., Dahlberg, S., Dahlström, C., Sundström, A., Axelsson, S., Dalli, C., Pachon, N. (2021). The quality of government expert survey 2020 dataset: Wave III. Gothenburg, Sweden: University of Gothenburg.
Ober, J. (2008). Democracy and knowledge: innovation and learning in classical Athens. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2015). The innovation imperative: contributing to productivity, growth and well-being. Paris, France: Autor. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264239814-en
Paik, Y., Kang, S., & Seamans, R. (2018). Entrepreneurship, innovation, and political competition: how the public sector helps the sharing economy create value. Strategic Management Journal, 40(4), 503-532. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2937
Pertuze, J. A., Reyes, T., Vassolo, R. S., & Olivares, N. (2019). Political uncertainty and innovation: the relative effects of national leaders' education levels and regime systems on firm-level patent applications. Research Policy, 48(9), 103808. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103808
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty-first century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pinto, P., & Timmons, J. (2005). The political determinants of economic performance: political competition and the sources of growth. Comparative Political Studies, 38(1), 26-50. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414004270886
Przeworski, A., Alvarez, M., Cheibub, J. A., & Limongi, F. (2000). Democracy and development. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Radosevic, S., & Yoruk, E. (2018, abril). Technology upgrading of middle-income economies: a new approach and results. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 129, 56-75. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.12.002
Reggi L., & Dawes S. (2016). Open government data ecosystems: linking transparency for innovation with transparency for participation and accountability. In Proceedings of the 5º International Conference on Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective, Porto, Portugal. Recuperado de https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44421-5_6
Stein, E., Tommasi, M., Echebarria, K., Lora, E., & Payne, M. (2006). The politics of policies: economic and social progress in Latin America. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.
Sun, D., Zeng, S., Zhang, Y., Wu, C., & Shi, J. (2022). The art of adversity thinking: political turnover and firm innovation. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2022.3144573
Sundell, A. (2014). Are formal civil service examinations the most meritocratic way to recruit civil servants? Not in all countries. Public Administration, 92(2), 440-457. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12077
Suzuki, K. M., & Demircioglu, M. (2019). The association between administrative characteristics and national level innovative activity: findings from a cross-national study. Public Performance & Management Review, 42(4), 755-782. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2018.1519449
Tselios, V. (2010). Is inequality good for innovation? International Regional Science Review, 34(1), 75-101. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1177/0160017610383278
Veracierto, M. (2008). Corruption and innovation. Economic Perspectives, 32(1), 29-39. Recuperado de https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economic-perspectives/2008/1qtr2008-part3-veracierto
Wen, J., Zheng, M., Feng, G., Chen, S. W., & Chang, C. (2020). Corruption and innovation: linear and nonlinear investigations of OECD Countries. The Singapore Economic Review, 65(1), 103-129. Recuperado de https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590818500273
Wooldridge, J. M. (2006). Introductory econometrics: a modern approach (3a ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
World Bank. (2010). Innovation policy a guide for developing countries. Washington, DC: Autor.