WORLDWIDE EFFICIENCY IN THE PRODUCTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL INVENTIONS ACCORDING TO RESEARCH INPUTS
Description
This investigation aimed to delineate the non-parametric frontier of maximum efficiency in the production of new technological inventions from the countries, exclusively conditioned to the main research inputs (r&D and specialized labor). Using data envelopment analysis, we sought to identify the technical efficiency measures achieved by nations in the relative use of these inputs,as well as to identify and measure the existence of possible leftovers of inefficient inputs and the respective appropriate values for the optimal production of the 74 countries studied. The results elucidate a global context of inefficient use of investments in research and development, and of the specialized labor force, to different degrees in time and space, which confirms the hypothesis suggested in this investigation. In this direction, some nations seem to seek readjustments in the combinations of use of these inputs, moving, at each period, to relatively more efficient positions, while others, however, follow the opposite path. This occurs in all income strata and therefore is independent of the economic dimension. The proof of this is that no high-income country is configured as of maximum efficiency, with only two countries (Iran and China), both of high middle incomes, projected on the border. However, it is still about the poorest countries that the greatest risk of misuse of research inputs is still present, in the sense of the production of new technological inventions, although this is also the reality of some rich nations of the planet. This inadequacy between the potential capacity of knowledge production, and that effectively used, makes technological progress for these economies increasingly slow and more complex, significantly weakening their National Innovation Systems