| Abstract: |
This paper uses a structural model to analyse the impact of innovation
activities, including intra- and inter-industry externalities, on the
productivity of Spanish firms. To the best of our knowledge, no previous paper
has examined spillover effects by adopting such an approach. Here, therefore,
we seek to determine the extent to which the innovations carried out by others
affect a firm’s productivity. Additionally, firm’s technology level is taken
into account in order to ascertain whether there are any differences in this
regard between high-tech and low-tech firms both in industrial and service
sectors. The database used is the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) which
includes 8,611 firms for the year 2009. We find that low-tech firms make the
most of a range of factors, including funding and belonging to a group, to
increase their investment in R&D. As expected, R&D intensity has a positive
impact on the probability of achieving both product and, more especially,
process innovations. Finally, innovation output has a positive impact on
firm’s productivity, being greater in more advanced firms in the case of
process innovations. Both intra- and inter-industry spillovers have a positive
impact on firm’s productivity, but this varies with the firm’s level of
technology. Thus, innovations made by firms from the same sector are more
important for low-tech firms than they are for their high-tech counterparts,
while innovations made by the rest of the sectors have a greater impact on
high-tech firms. |