This book examines the role of innovation in fostering future economic progress in the East Asia Pacific region and lays out an agenda for transitioning to more innovation-led growth.

After a half century of transformative economic progress that moved hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, countries in developing East Asia are facing an array of challenges to their future development. Slowed productivity growth, increased fragility of the global trading system, and rapid changes in technology are all threatening export-oriented, labor-intensive manufacturing—the region’s engine of growth. Significant global challenges—such as climate change and the COVID-19 pand...

A partir de las teorías de Schumpeter, los economistas han argumentado que invertir en tecnología e innovación se traduce en un gran aumento de la productividad. Sin embargo, como lo muestra La paradoja de la innovación, las empresas y los gobiernos de los países en vías de desarrollo invierten muy poco para alcanzar este potencial, lo que a su vez causa que disminuya la ayuda internacional. Con base en datos actualizados y su análisis, Cirera y Maloney arrojan luces sobre la clave de esta...

Many of the main problems facing developing countries today and tomorrow--growth, poverty reduction, inequality, food insecurity, job creation, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and adjustment to climate change--hinge on adopting better technology, a key driver of economic development. Access to technology is not enough: firms have to adopt it. Yet it is precisely the uptake of technology that is lagging in many firms in developing countries. Bridging the Technological Divide: Technolog...

Since Schumpeter, economists have argued that vast productivity gains can be achieved by investing in innovation and technological catch-up. Yet, as this volume documents, developing country firms and governments invest little to realize this potential, which dwarfs international aid flows. Using new data and original analytics, the authors uncover the key to this innovation paradox in the lack of complementary physical and human capital factors, particularly firm managerial capabilities, tha...

Technology is a key driver of economic development. However, the extent to which firms adopt and use technologies and to what purpose is poorly understood. From a technological standpoint, firms largely remain black boxes. This report proposes a new approach to measure and understand the adoption and use of technologies by firms.

Since Schumpeter, economists have argued that vast productivity gains can be achieved by investing in innovation and technological catch-up. Yet, as this volume documents, developing country firms and governments invest little to realize this potential, which dwarfs international aid flows. Using new data and original analytics, the authors uncover the key to this innovation paradox in the lack of complementary physical and human capital factors, particularly firm managerial capabilities, ...