The development black box: capabilities, structural change and innovation

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A two-day workshop on the determinants and sources of economic development hosted by the Institute of Economics (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) and the Young Scholars Initiative (YSI). The event is intended to discuss established and new perspectives on the overall development process among young and senior scholars.

Three sessions feature cutting-edge contributions on core domains of analyses to interpret why some countries succeed and some others fall behind, by integrating perspective from evolutionary and complexity economics. The first one is dedicated to the analysis of capabilities accumulation and diversification, from firm, country and regional perspectives, as determinant of prospect of growth. The second session targets processes of structural transformation with an emphasis on division of labour, employment and distributional dynamics seen as key features of development. The third session intersects firm and sectoral innovative efforts undertaken in pharmaceutical, telecommunication and green industries, highlighting heterogeneity in trajectories and the role of state-led policies. A final roundtable hosts contributions of leading scholars addressing contemporary challenges for innovation and industrial policies, particularly in the current pandemic phase.

The event will be held in a blended mode, but the audience will participate only online.

Day 1

Session 1
Capabilities and economic complexity: from firm to country performances

The session intends to shed new light on the role of capabilities as primarily source of economic development. Novel contributions detecting what capabilities are at the firm level, their geographical distribution and ensuing patterns of diversification as determinant of country growth will be discussed.

Confirmed speakers:

Angelica Sbardella (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Ron Boschma (Utrecht University)
Emanuele Pugliese (European Commission, JRC)

Session 2
Structural dynamics, labour and distribution

Structural and distributional transformations constitute primary concerns in the development process. This session discusses three interrelated aspects of the structural change – employment nexus, namely the role of sectoral interdependencies and their influence on the division of labour, patterns and quality of job creation in Globally Integrated Value Chains, sectoral trends in functional income distribution.

Confirmed speakers:

Michael Landesmann (Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies)
Stefan Pahl (German Institute for Global and Area Studies)
Ozlem Onaran (University of Greenwich)
Alexander Guschanski (University of Greenwich)

Day 2

Session 3
Firms, state-led policies and sectoral patterns of innovative efforts: pharmaceutical, telecommunication and green industry

The aim of this session is to bring forward novel empirical analysis on sectoral patterns of innovative efforts, also considering the possible role of the state in influencing their evolution. In particular, contributions will focus on heterogeneous innovation processes characterizing three leading technological industries, namely pharmaceutical, telecommunication and green.

Confirmed speakers:

Alberto Marzucchi (Gran Sasso Science Institute)
Ken Shadlen (London School of Economics)
Daniel S. Hain (Aalborg University)

Final roundtable
Contemporary challenges for Innovation, Industrial Policies and Development.

Confirmed speakers:

Giovanni Dosi (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Dani Rodrik (Harvard University)
Eva Paus (Mount Holyoke College)
Luciano Pietronero (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)