Inovativnost privrede kao ključna determinanta konvergencije zemalja različitih nivoa ekonomske razvijenosti

Abstract

nnovativity is a complex phenomenon, closely related to scientific development and acquiring new knowledge which is developed and materialized through the innovation process. Innovations enable creation of a new value which underlies economic growth and increase of employment, prosperity and cohesion in a society. That is the reason why economic growth in modern conditions is predominantly determined by its ability to create, transfer, apply and commercialize new knowledge through innovation. Its topicality give rise to the question of whether improvement of economic innovativity per se leads to convergence of countries of different initial levels of economic development. The answer to this question is not simple at all, despite the fact that in theory and policy of economic growth, the starting point is the message of the neoclassical growth model by Robert Solow, about the inevitability of catching up with countries with a higher level of economic development by economically less developed economies, whereby technological changes represent a crucial factor of economic growth in the long run. Research results have shown that the hypothesis about absolute convergence of neoclassical economists can be accepted for a certain number of countries, whereas for others it must be rejected, which indicates the need for including new growth factors (population, investment, rule of law, education, innovativity, education, etc.) into research of economic growth and convergence among countries. Empirical analysis of the conditional convergence model has shown that economies grow faster when they are further away from its balanced state, and the rate of convergence depends on the rule of law, the propensity to save and innovate, which confirms the initial assumption about positive and significant effects of innovations on economic growth and the rate of convergence among countries of different initial level of development. The obtained results indicate that countries should invest more in improving economic innovativity because that will in turn accelerate economic growth and create a basis for its long-term sustainability.