This thesis studies the effect of innovation activities and productivity by using the CDM-model and extend the existing knowledge by using the CIS-dataset in combination with official statistics performing a such detailed regional analysis that have not been done before. By using the different labour market codes interacted with the industry codes I can capture informative deviations between different industries in different regions. The results show a significant variation between the different regions and industries, and that the urban and metropolitan areas are more innovative and more productive than the rural areas. However, the financial sector and health sectors showed a steady innovation input activity across most regions while the metropolitan areas showed to invest less in innovation inputs in the real estate sector compered to rural and urban areas.

The astrophysical data of the last two decades have allowed cosmologists to conclude that the present Universe is accelerating. The research carried out to find the origin of this phenomenon has led to the creation of a vast number of dark energy and modified gravity theories, of which the simplest is the ˄CDM model. The latter is, however, plagued with very difficult problems awaiting a solution. The work here presented seeks to contribute to the discussion of the possible explanation for the Cosmos' acceleration and other important questions in modern cosmology using the newest astrophysical observations available. This thesis starts by exploring a dark energy model dubbed thawing quintessence which is characterised by allowing a non constant ratio of pressure to density for dark energy that is however still close to -1 for most of the cosmological evolution, shifting away from this value when the domination of the radiation and matter components fades away. The findings are the most up-to-date constraints for which this model gives a viable theory for dark energy, including a bound on the equation of state at present of w < -0:88. This exact approach was contrasted with the use of an approximate equation-of-state parametrisation for thawing theories. The analysis also includes different parametrisation choices, and comments on the accuracy of the constraints imposed by CMB anisotropies alone. Next, the cosmology of hybrid metric-Palatini gravity is presented. This is a type of Modified Gravity theory in which the Lagrangian density for the gravitational action is a function of the Ricci scalars of both the connection and the metric. The background evolution of two models of this kind is examined explicitly showing the recovery of standard General Relativity at late times. The maximum deviation from the gravitational constant G at early times is constrained using a combination of geometrical data, finding it to be around 1%. A designer scenario, also introduced under the hybrid metric-Palatini formulation, is then used to explore to what extent early modifications of gravity, which become significant after recombination but then decay towards the present, can be constrained by current and future cosmological observations. This model is embedded in the effective field theory description of Horndeski scalar-tensor gravity with an early-time decoupling of the gravitational modification. Applying cosmological data, the constraints on the early-time deviations from General Relativity are obtained. These are dependent on the redshift at which the oscillations in the slip between the gravitational potentials are turned on. For zon = 1000, the deviation from Einstein's theory is ≤ 10-2 with 95% confidence. An explanation of the effect that these divergences have on the CMB power spectrum are discussed, as well as the effect that future 21 cm survey data will have on this study. The last part of this work is a move towards inflation, the early epoch of accelerated expansion undergone by the Universe. Here a parametrisation of the acceleration trajectory is investigated with the aim of measuring the rolling of the inflaton corresponding to the value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r to be compared with future observations. Considering five ln ε amplitudes and 14 e-foldings, it was found that the posterior distribution of (r,∆Φ) is in very good agreement with Lyth's bound. The analysis included a histogram depiction of the latter result, from which later a minimum constraint on ∆ϕ for each of the bins was found. These outcomes constitute the intermediate step of this project which will be made more accurate by extending it to ~ 50 e-folds, a larger set of cosmological parameters and observational bounds that are restrictive on small scales.

The goal of this dissertation is to analyze the impact of the innovative effort on innovation, and this on the productivity of Brazilian companies. This is a firm-level analysis using data crossover from the Technological Innovation Survey (PINTEC) and the Annual Industrial Survey (PIA), both developed by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in the period from 2006 to 2008. The research aims to contribute to the empirical debate to understand the pattern of the current Brazilian innovative process, considering the sectors specifications and their levels of technological intensity. Is made an theoretical analysis of the literature, that explicit the various theories of innovation, its determinants and its relationship with productivity, showing that, although very different in their conceptions, there is a currently consensus about the importance of technological innovation on industrial performance. Is also made an empirical research on the relationship between innovation activities, innovation and productivity, using the CDM model and econometric strategy to answer these questions. The results shows that, despite the fact that few companies in Brazil innovate and invest in innovation (especially in direct investment in R&D activities), the probability to innovate increases with a higher level of investment in innovative activities, and that the level of productivity is positively affected by product or process innovation. These results also happen with the industries samples of lower and higher technological intensity, but, for that last ones, the innovation impact on productivity not shown significant. / O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar o impacto do esforço inovativo sobre a inovação, e desta sobre a produtividade das empresas brasileiras. Trata-se de uma análise em nível da firma que utiliza o cruzamento dos dados da Pesquisa de Inovação Tecnológica (PINTEC) e da Pesquisa Industrial Anual (PIA), ambas elaboradas pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), no período de 2006 a 2008. A pesquisa visa contribuir para o debate empírico ao compreender o padrão do processo inovativo brasileiro atual, considerando as especificações setoriais e de seus níveis de intensidade tecnológica. É feita uma análise da literatura teórica, que explicita as várias teorias da inovação, dos seus determinantes e de sua relação com a produtividade, evidenciando que apesar de muito diferente em suas concepções, há atualmente um consenso tecnológico sobre a importância da inovação sobre o desempenho industrial. Também é feita uma investigação empírica acerca da relação entre atividades inovativas, inovação e produtividade, utilizando-se o modelo CDM como estratégia econométrica para responder essas questões. Os resultados encontrados evidenciam que, apesar da constatação de que poucas empresas do Brasil inovam e investem em inovação (principalmente no que se refere ao investimento direto em atividades de P&D), a probabilidade de inovar aumenta com um maior nível de investimento em atividades inovativas, e que o nível de produtividade é influenciado positivamente, na média, pela inovação, seja ela de produto ou processo. Esses resultados também acontecem com os recortes em indústrias de intensidades tecnológicas mais baixas e mais altas, porém, para estas últimas, o impacto da inovação sobre a produtividade não se mostrou significativo. / Mestre em Economia