The Impact of Institutions on Innovation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Donges, Alexander; Meier, Jean-Marie; Silva, Rui C.
• 署名单位: University of Mannheim; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.4403
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1951-1974
• 关键词: innovation; patents; institutions; Economic growth; Germany

摘要

We study the impact of inclusive institutions on innovation using novel, handcollected, county-level data for Imperial Germany. We use the timing and geography of the French occupation of different German regions after the French Revolution of 1789 as an instrument for institutional quality. We find that the number of patents per capita in counties with the longest occupation was more than double that in unoccupied counties. Among the institutional changes brought by the French, the introduction of the Code civil, ensuring equality before the law, and the promotion of commercial freedom through the abolition of guilds and trade licenses had a stronger effect on innovation than the abolition of serfdom, which increased labor market mobility, and agricultural reforms that broke up the power of rural elites. The effect of institutions on innovation is particularly pronounced for high-tech innovation, suggesting that innovationmight be a key channel through which institutions ultimately affect economic growth. Our findings highlight inclusive institutions as a first-order determinant of innovation.