Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia

This study empirically investigates the effect of innovation on economic growth using the neoclassical economic growth model. Embarking from the traditional labour growth, physical capital and human capital framework, innovation is postulated to be the main driver for robust economic growth. Using t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Law, Siong Hook, Sarmidi, Tamat, Goh, Lim Thye
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Malaysian Economic Association 2020
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/1/ARDL.pdf
_version_ 1848860817108238336
author Law, Siong Hook
Sarmidi, Tamat
Goh, Lim Thye
author_facet Law, Siong Hook
Sarmidi, Tamat
Goh, Lim Thye
author_sort Law, Siong Hook
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study empirically investigates the effect of innovation on economic growth using the neoclassical economic growth model. Embarking from the traditional labour growth, physical capital and human capital framework, innovation is postulated to be the main driver for robust economic growth. Using time series techniques, we discover very attention-grabbing findings that highlight the impact of innovation on economic growth for Malaysia. First, the innovation measured by the quantity of a total number of a patent application is statistically insignificant. The result is robust for various innovation measurements, including total local patent application and total foreign patent application. Interestingly, switching to total patent grant instead of a total number of patent application (local or foreign), the empirical result shows a significant impact on economic growth. The finding indirectly reveals the crucial impact of quality innovation rather than the quantity concern. Neglecting both quality and the commercialisation process of these new technologies may not solve the rigidity of knowledge commercialisation paradox. Finally, we test for the prominent institutional quality in mediating economic growth under a knowledge-based economy. The interaction between institutional quality and the total patent grant has significantly accelerated the role of innovation channel to economic growth. The empirical findings imply that inadequacy of innovative technology flow over the long term has a detrimental effect on national innovative capacity. Thus, the innovation-economic growth nexus needs to be complemented with a good institutional quality framework, skilled human capital and broader networking to commercialise the innovative product to ensure that the innovation activities promote economic growth.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T12:51:15Z
format Article
id upm-89289
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T12:51:15Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Malaysian Economic Association
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-892892021-09-20T12:36:41Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/ Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia Law, Siong Hook Sarmidi, Tamat Goh, Lim Thye This study empirically investigates the effect of innovation on economic growth using the neoclassical economic growth model. Embarking from the traditional labour growth, physical capital and human capital framework, innovation is postulated to be the main driver for robust economic growth. Using time series techniques, we discover very attention-grabbing findings that highlight the impact of innovation on economic growth for Malaysia. First, the innovation measured by the quantity of a total number of a patent application is statistically insignificant. The result is robust for various innovation measurements, including total local patent application and total foreign patent application. Interestingly, switching to total patent grant instead of a total number of patent application (local or foreign), the empirical result shows a significant impact on economic growth. The finding indirectly reveals the crucial impact of quality innovation rather than the quantity concern. Neglecting both quality and the commercialisation process of these new technologies may not solve the rigidity of knowledge commercialisation paradox. Finally, we test for the prominent institutional quality in mediating economic growth under a knowledge-based economy. The interaction between institutional quality and the total patent grant has significantly accelerated the role of innovation channel to economic growth. The empirical findings imply that inadequacy of innovative technology flow over the long term has a detrimental effect on national innovative capacity. Thus, the innovation-economic growth nexus needs to be complemented with a good institutional quality framework, skilled human capital and broader networking to commercialise the innovative product to ensure that the innovation activities promote economic growth. Malaysian Economic Association 2020 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/1/ARDL.pdf Law, Siong Hook and Sarmidi, Tamat and Goh, Lim Thye (2020) Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies, 57 (1). 113 - 132. ISSN 1511-4554 https://mjes.um.edu.my/article/view/24356 10.22452/MJES.vol57no1.6
spellingShingle Law, Siong Hook
Sarmidi, Tamat
Goh, Lim Thye
Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title_full Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title_fullStr Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title_short Impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from Malaysia
title_sort impact of innovation on economic growth: evidence from malaysia
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89289/1/ARDL.pdf