Where there is a will, there is a way? Assessing the impact of obstacles to innovation

The aim of this article is to assess the impact of obstacles to innovation on firms’ to innovate. We show that distinguishing between firms that do not because they do not intend to and firms that try but fail or give up of insurmountable obstacles is key for properly measuring the impact the barriers to innovation. Estimating an innovation production function on defined subsamples allows obtaining consistent results, i. e. a significant negative impact of the obstacles to innovation on firms’ propensity to. These results are robust to the definition of these subsamples, to the way“obstacles to innovation” are defined, as well as to the distinction between financial nonfinancial obstacles.