Innovation and productivity in Latin American and Caribbean firms: Conclusions

This chapter summarizes the main results of the book, presenting new evidence on the factors preventing faster productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. Innovation significantly influences the productivity of firms, although to different degrees depending on their characteristics. The evidence confirms that the impact of innovation on productivity depends also on additional complementary assets, such as access and use of ICT and on-the-job training. These conclusions also hold true for the Caribbean economies, traditionally understudied. Additional factors that can influence productivity have also been detected, such as the age of firms, their access to credit and finance, and their participation in international markets and global value chains. On the basis of this evidence, we suggest that achieving efficiency improvements within firms requires detailed microeconomic policies that directly address these factors.