‘Theory and Empirics of Capability Accumulation: Implications for Macroeconomic Modelling’ by Aistleitner, Gräbner and Hornykewycz
One essential determinant for the international competitiveness of firms is the level of technological capabilities. In a recent paper, SPACE researchers Matthias Aistleitner and Claudius Gräbner, together with Anna Hornykewycz, searched for the determinants of these capabilities on the firm and country level, and delineated strategies to account for these determinants in macroeconomic mdoels. This paper has now been published in the journal Research Policy.
It comprises a methodological discussion about the preconditions for macroeconomic models to consider insights from the applied business literature, as well as an extensive review of the literature specialized on capability accumulation on the firm and aggregated level. In doing so, it summarizes evidence on various determinants and mechanisms of capability accumulation and aligns them with the current representation of capability accumulation in macroeconomic models. Based on these results, the authors make suggestions on how macroeconomists may integrate these determinants derived from the specialized literature into their models.