Page 67 - IJPS-9-2

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
The older, the wiser and also the less innovative?

An empirical analysis of the relationship
between population aging and innovativeness

Gabriele Ruiu *, Marco Breschi , and Alessio Fornasin 2
1
1
1 Department of Economics and Business, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
2 Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

Abstract
Entrepreneurship is generally considered the engine of growth, given its role in
introducing innovations into the economic system. Developed countries have
already become a victim of rapid aging of their populations, while the similar trend
has just started in developing countries. The previous literature has suggested that
aging and nascent entrepreneurship are negatively related. This study investigated
the relationship between aging and innovation using dynamic panel techniques. We
found that the level of innovation activities represented by the number of patent
applications is negatively related to aging. This association remains even after
other demographic and institutional confounders are taken into account. We also
found that education and flexibility of business regulations are positively related to
*Corresponding author: innovation.
Gabriele Ruiu
(gruiu@uniss.it)
Citation: Ruiu, G., Breschi, M. & Keywords: Innovation; Population aging; Patents; Dynamic panel methods
Fornasin, A. (2023). The older, the
wiser and also the less innovative?
An empirical analysis of the
relationship between population
aging and innovativeness. 1. Introduction
International Journal of Population The economic literature has highlighted the strong connection between entrepreneurship,
Studies, 9(2): 61-74.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0429 innovation and economic growth. Schumpeter (1934) was the first scholar singling out
Received: April 12, 2023 these associations and pointing out that entrepreneurs are vital to economic development
because they translate inventions and scientific discoveries into economic innovations in
Accepted: August 12, 2023 the forms of new services, products, production processes, and management approaches.
Published Online: September 18, According to Schumpeter, the inventor may differ from the innovator. The former is
2023 the creator of ideas and inventions, while the innovator recognizes the potential for
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). exploiting the invention for an economic purpose. Schumpeter remarked that both roles
This is an Open-Access article are essential for economic development, as the innovations generated by inventors and
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution exploited by innovators contribute to economic growth and progress. In addition, new
License, permitting distribution, and firms contribute to the economy by introducing new goods or more efficient production
reproduction in any medium, which methods, displacing underperforming firms, thereby reallocating resources for better
provided that the original work is
properly cited. use. This phenomenon is known as the process of creative destruction. Numerous
empirical studies have supported the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with (Scarpetta et al., 2002; van Praag & Versloot, 2007; Acs et al., 2008; Bosma et al., 2018).
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional For instance, van Praag and Versloot (2007) reviewed 12 years of high-quality
affiliations. empirical research into the economic value of entrepreneurship, confirming that young

Volume 9 Issue 2 (2023) 61 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0429