The GDP Growth-Rates Of Countries With The Highest Production Of Patents

Abstract

The generation of patents reflects a significant part of the economical development of a country, and is an activity that is intrinsically related to the intellectual capital of an organization. This article focuses on the relationship between the growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the production of patents, based on annual data during the period 2005-2010 for the three countries around the world with the highest level in production of patents: USA, China, and Japan. A nonparametric correlation method (named Spearman's rank correlation) was selected (whose justification is explained) to estimate the correlation coefficient (p-value<0.01); an economical variable: the external debt measured in US$ billions was incorporated in the analysis, due to its significant correlation (p-value<0.01), which since 2004 has been growing and reaching an unsuspected upper extreme margin.