Seminário DPCT/GEOPI/CatChain em temas de inovação

This paper investigates the effects of real and financial sector reforms on the growth rate of labor productivity and its two components- the within and between components- using data for low and middle-income countries over the period 1975-2005. It also examines the heterogeneous effects of reforms across sectors and between African and non-African countries. The findings show that most financial sector reforms have increased the growth rate of labor productivity. In contrast, real sector reforms do not have significant effects on labor productivity growth except for the current account reform, which has a positive effect on labor productivity growth. Looking at the sub-components of labor productivity growth, the results show that financial sector reforms have positive and significant effects on the within component, while real sector reforms remain insignificant. Surprisingly, the results show that both the real sector and financial sector reforms have either negative or neutral effects on structural change. Across the different sectors of the economy, the agriculture sector has not benefited from reforms, unlike the industry sector where financial sectors have increased labor productivity growth and its within component. In the service sector, both financial and real sector reforms have increased the growth rate of labor productivity and the within component. Across regions, the results highlight that reforms in Africa have mostly negative effects on productivity and its sub-components. In non-African countries, financial sector reforms have positive effects on productivity growth and its within component but neutral effects on structural change.

The employment impact of product innovations in sub-Saharan Africa: Firm-level evidence, Forthcoming in Research Policy, with M. Konté, E.Avenyo and P.Mohen

 Abstract:

Innovation has become a key interest in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as it is argued to be pervasive, and plays an eminent role in generating employment. There is, however, a dearth of empirical evidence assessing the impact of innovation on firm employment for SSA. This paper investigates the impact of product innovations on job creation using data from the recent waves of the Enterprise Survey merged with Innovation Follow-Up Survey for SSA countries for which both surveys are available. We apply the Dose Response Model under continuous and heterogeneous responses to treatment. The results reveal a positive impact of product innovations on total employment. This result is, however, found to hold only at specific intervals of product innovation intensities. Our analyses also show that product innovations tend to create both temporary and permanent jobs as well as skilled and unskilled jobs. However, the positive impact of product innovations on temporary and unskilled employment tends to outweigh that of permanent and skilled employment, raising questions about the security and quality of the new jobs generated by product innovations.

Product innovation and informal market competition in sub-Saharan Africa: A firm-level evidence”, with  M. Konté, E.Avenyo and P.Mohen, in progress

 Abstract:

The interaction  between  formal  and  informal  businesses  continues  to  grow  in  African countries.  Yet, firm-level evidence reveals that the product market competitive behaviour of informal enterprises is ‘unhealthy’ and listed one of the top three obstacles formal businesses face in sub-Saharan Africa.  This paper investigates the effect of informal market competition on sales from innovative products introduced by formal firms.  Combining the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey with the Innovation Follow-up Survey for five sub-Saharan African countries, we find a robust negative effect of informal competition on product innovation performance.

Knowledge network and technological frontier in Bioenergy - Carolina da Silveira Bueno 

Abstract 

This research is based on social networking methodologies applied to the economy. It describes the applicability of network analysis and, in particular, collaboration networks and recent studies on the blockmodeling of bidirectional networks. The research examines the collaboration flows among areas of knowledge and countries in the period 1975-2017 as an example, focusing particularly on the development of technological frontier areas of bioenergy towards opportunities of new paradigms. It provides an overview of the methodology and key theoretical concepts and highlights possible paths for future application. The results analysed at different time periods show that bioenergy frontiers have been undergoing development and are interdependent on several areas of knowledge, especially biotechnology. In addition to the estimates, the study provides detailed information on the level of international collaboration and a view of the spatial distribution of bioenergy research from the perspective of origin, development and possible future paths. The research is expected to stimulate the debate on and use of network analysis in the studies of innovation dynamics and to contribute to policymaking for innovation systems.

Curriculo das pesquisadoras:

Maty Konté is Research Fellow at UNU-MERIT. Ph.D in Economics, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, with honors & price (2012); Master in Economics and Finance, Marseille, France, with honors (2009); Magister in Economics, Aix-Marseille University, France, with honors (2009); Master visiting student, University of Montreal, Canada (Winter 2008); Bachelor in Applied Mathematics and Economics, Faculty of Science, AixMarseille University, France, with honors (2007). Veja o curriculo detalhado em anexo.