Population and Technological Innovation: The Optimal Interaction Across Modern Countries

Ceris Working Paper No. 07/2013

23 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2015

See all articles by Mario Coccia

Mario Coccia

National Research Council of Italy (CNR)

Date Written: May 20, 2013

Abstract

Population growth is one of the major problems facing the world today because it affects the pattern of sustainable economic growth. Theory of endogenous growth shows that total research output increases faster than proportionally with population due to increases in the size of the market, more intensive intellectual contact and greater specialization. The study here analyses the relationship between population growth and level of technological outputs (patent applications of residents), focusing on OECD countries. The study seems to show the existence of an inverted-U shaped curve between the growth rate of population and the patents with an optimal zone in which the average rate of growth of the population (roughly 0.3131%) is likely to be associated to a higher level of technological outputs. The policy implications of the study are that, in average, it is difficult to sustain a optimal level of technological outputs either with a low (lower than 0.2197%) or high (higher than 1.0133%) average growth rate of population (annual). In addition, the estimated relationship of technological outputs vs. population growth tends to be affected by decreasing returns of technological innovation to population growth.

Keywords: Population, Population Growth, Innovation, Technological Change, Demographic Change, Patents, Economic Change

JEL Classification: O33; J10

Suggested Citation

Coccia, Mario, Population and Technological Innovation: The Optimal Interaction Across Modern Countries (May 20, 2013). Ceris Working Paper No. 07/2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2581735 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2581735

Mario Coccia (Contact Author)

National Research Council of Italy (CNR) ( email )

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