The impact of classes of innovators on Technology, Financial Fragility and Economic Growth

In this paper, we study innovation processes and technological change in an agent-based model. By including a behavioral switching among heterogeneous innovative firms, which can endogenously change among three different classes (single innovators, collaborative innovators and imitators) on the base of their R&D expenditures, the model is able to replicate, via simulations, well known industrial dynamic and growth type stylized facts. Moreover, we focus the analysis on the impact of these three innovation categories on micro, meso and macro aggregates. We find that collaborative companies are those having the highest positive impact on the economic system. The model is then used to study the effect that different innovation policies have on macroeconomic performance.