Generation of technological innovation, behavioral heterogeneity and empirical evidences

• Grant number: 14/18858-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 15, 2015
• End date: January 14, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Growth, Fluctuations and Economic Planning
• Principal Investigator: Gilberto Tadeu Lima
• Grantee: Júlia Mendonca da Costa
• Supervisor: Lionello Franco Punzo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Siena, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/04127-8 - Three essays on technological innovation and economic growth, BP.DR

Abstract

This research will contribute to the theoretical and empirical post-Keynesian literature on economic growth, which is closely associated with Kalecki-Steindl's tradition in regard to the role of innovation. The research is separated into two parts. The theoretical part will be developed in the first two essays of the dissertation and deals with the generation of innovation in oligopolistic firms and behavioral heterogeneity among firms in relation to investment decisions. The second, empirical part tests the veracity of the theoretical assumptions of the aforementioned models on hand of Brazil with time series econometrics. In particular, the growth regime that Brazil experienced during the period between 1963 and 2008, wage-led or profit-led, will be tested through the analysis of the causal relationship between income distribution and labor-saving technical change. The effects of this change on the employment levels and on the rate of capital accumulation will also be examined. The importance of doing a research internship abroad was described in the initial project for the country. The objective of the research internship abroad is enhance the ongoing research. For this the University of Siena was chosen under the supervision of Professor Lionello Franco Punzo due to his focus on Brazilian and Latin American themes, and his expertise in evolutionary game methodology, as used in the second essay of this research project. In addition, interaction with other professors and affiliated researchers will take place, such as Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, who are referenced authors in evolutionary game theory on problems involving coordination failures. (AU)