Some Thoughts on Capital Accumulation, Innovation, and Growth

In this paper we introduce capital accumulation in the Schumpeterian growth framework. A first main result is that capital accumulation and innovation are both essential inputs to long-run growth. More innovation stimulates capital accumulation by raising the marginal product of capital. More capital accumulation stimulates innovation by raising the profits accruing to a successful innovator. This result runs counter to the conventional belief to the effect that innovation alone determines the long-run growth rate while capital accumulation determines only the level of the long-run growth path. In the second part of the paper we discuss the implication of merging capital accumulation and innovation-led growth for growth accounting.