The effect of developing countries' innovation policies on firms' decisions to invest in R&D

摘要

Using data on Ecuadorian firms for the period 2009-2011 and by employing inverse probability weighting, this paper compares the impact of two policy instruments that may induce firms in developing countries to invest in R&D activities. The first is public procurement which has recently been viewed as an important tool when encouraging innovation. The second is innovation support programs which are intended to increase firms' technological capabilities. Results indicate that public procurement does not induce firms to invest in R&D activities, even for the largest contracts. However, participating in innovation support programs does so. Furthermore, the combination of both policy instruments does not produce a significant effect on firms' decisions to invest in R&D activities.