Innovation performance of MENA countries: where do we stand?

Bosco, Maria Giovanna; Mavilia, Roberto

doi:10.4337/9781782540915.00012

Cited by 2 publications

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“…On the contrary, MENA's growth is still far from South Asia that grows by 6.4 per cent per annum. The positive average GDP growth rate in MENA is basically attributed to the favorable global economic trend characterized by growth in the oil market prices, the development of tourism, an increase in foreign investment and immigrant remittances, with the exception of Lebanon, Palestine and, to a lesser degree, Syria (Bosco and Mavilia, 2014).…”

Section: Overview On Mena's Economic and Innovation Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, R&D intensity is approximately 0.4 per cent in Iran, which is far below the average of upper middle-income countries of 1.7 per cent. This drawback in R&D investment might be attributed to the weak industrial base in MENA, and their dependence on the service sector is the engine for prospective growth and as the oil reserves are due to be exhausted in 50 years or less (Bosco and Mavilia, 2014). The same performance is also observed using GERD indicator (Figure 2).…”

Section: Overview On Mena’s Economic and Innovation Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Innovation and economic performance in MENA region

Omar

2019

REPS

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Purpose Innovation has become the engine of economic growth, especially with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This paper aims at studying the association between innovation – measured by gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) – and economic performance – represented by real gross domestic product (GDP) – in MENA region over the period 1996-2016. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the panel corrected standard error method to account for heteroskedacity and possible contemporaneous correlation across panels, and the first order autocorrelation within panel for unbalanced datasets. Findings The study concludes that R&D expenditure is positive and statistically significant in explaining GDP, but their relationship is weak. Specifically, a 10 per cent increase in R&D expenditure raises GDP by 4 per cent. In addition, human capital, labor force and fixed capital accumulation are found positive and statistically significant. These findings highlight on the importance of innovation and education on fostering economic growth, urging MENA governments to further invest in R&D and innovation sector. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the relationship between GERD and GDP in MENA region within the endogenous-growth model framework.

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Section: Overview On Mena's Economic and Innovation Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview On Mena’s Economic and Innovation Performancementioning

confidence: 99%