Innovation, Productivity, and Economic Growth: New Insights—2nd Edition

A special issue of Economies (ISSN 2227-7099).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 512

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Economic and Statistical Sciences; University of Salerno, I-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Interests: innovation economics; environmental economics; labor economics; econometrics; public policy; economics of innovation; patents; knowledge diffusion process; employment; green economy; applied microeconometrics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The economic literature shows the relevance of the knowledge diffusion process for firms’ productivity. Indeed, firms innovate by generating technological knowledge to develop new products and production processes or improve those already in existence.

The aim of this Special Issue is to consider new works relevant to the innovation process through the analysis of research and development (R&D) expenditures or patent data. In particular, we further explore the innovation process of the firms and the relative impact of employment.

Theoretical and empirical contributions related to the economics of innovation and relative public policies are welcome in this Special Issue.

Submissions should consist of theoretical or applied research in a large range of tracks and topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Knowledge-based economy and social capital;
  • Innovation economics;
  • Digital transformation processes in the private and public sectors;
  • Employment effects of digital innovation;
  • Liquidity constraints and productivity.

Prof. Dr. Luigi Aldieri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • innovation
  • productivity
  • economic growth
  • public policies
  • social capital
  • digital transformation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 519 KiB  
Article
Linking R&D and Productivity in South Africa: The Moderating Role of Human Skills
by Brian Tavonga Mazorodze, Darlington Chizema and Phetole Emanuel Ramatsoma
Economies 2025, 13(6), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/economies13060179 - 18 Jun 2025
Viewed by 338
Abstract
This study examines the impact of research and development (R&D) on productivity outcomes across South African industries. Drawing on an industry-level panel dataset covering 66 industries (6 mining, 37 manufacturing, and 23 services) stretching from 1993 to 2023, the study estimates how a [...] Read more.
This study examines the impact of research and development (R&D) on productivity outcomes across South African industries. Drawing on an industry-level panel dataset covering 66 industries (6 mining, 37 manufacturing, and 23 services) stretching from 1993 to 2023, the study estimates how a change in the initial R&D stock affects labor and capital productivity over a five-year horizon using the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) method. The results reveal a positive but weak elasticity of labor productivity to R&D stock (0.01–0.02%), consistent with existing literature. The effects on capital productivity are even lower (0.003–0.005%), suggesting that R&D more directly enhances labor productivity than capital. Sectoral estimations indicate that R&D has no significant effect on labor productivity in mining but a strong productivity effect in manufacturing and services—twice as large in the latter. In contrast, capital productivity gains are only evident in mining. Additionally, the study finds that R&D effects are larger in technology-intensive industries, and the productivity benefits increase with the share of skilled workers, underscoring the importance of absorptive capacity. Overall, the findings suggest that while R&D matters for productivity, its returns are stronger in human capital- and technology-intensive industries. Full article
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