In the last century, the relation between competition and innovation has been a subject of particular interest, considering the important role that technological progress plays on economic growth and social welfare. Moreover, for several decades, the interest and discussion in regards to this matter has been the focus of heated debates among economists, jurists; and, most notably, among Competition and Industrial Property Authorities, since competition and innovation are the main axes in any modern approach to industrial policy. This paper examines the relation between competition and innovation, based on the estimation of panel data models for 75 countries between 2007 and 2015. The results show an inverted-U relation between innovation and competition. In other words, increases in competition generates innovation to a certain level (turning point) where the effect of competition on innovation is negative. This is consistent with Aghion et al. (2005) approach. The results are robust to different variables used as a proxy for innovation.
