National innovation systems and firms’ capital investment around the world: a N-tuple helix approach
研究了2008至2020年间93个国家的国家创新体系绩效如何影响企业固定资本投资决策，发现创新绩效越强，企业越倾向于投资固定资产，且这一效应通过技术采纳、ICT出口和员工培训等渠道实现。
Abstract We examine whether national innovation system (NIS) performance shapes firms’ fixed-capital investment decisions across 93 countries from 2008 to 2020. We use firm-level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys and reconstruct a helix-based composite indicator (SFIGA) to measure countries’ innovation performance globally. The index integrates the roles of government, industry, academia, society, and finance. To capture the broader context, we include firm-level and country-level controls that reflect organizational, financial, and institutional factors. Probit estimates with sector, year, and country fixed effects indicate a robust positive association between national innovation performance and the propensity to invest in fixed assets. Results remain stable under instrumental variable estimation, Oster test, and propensity score matching. Mechanism tests indicate transmission through technology adoption, ICT export activities, and workforce training. Additional heterogeneity analyses show that system maturity matters. The evidence supports an actor-centered view of NISs and suggests that strengthening helix performance can crowd in corporate capital formation.