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on Economics of Strategic Management |
| By: | Da Rin, M. (Tilburg University, TILEC); Penas, M.F. (Tilburg University, TILEC) |
| Abstract: | Venture capital is a specialized form of financial intermediation that often provides funding for costly technological innovation. Venture capital firms need to exit portfolio companies within about five years from the investment to generate returns for institutional investors. This paper is the first to examine the association of venture capital funding with a company’s choice of innovation strategies. We employ a unique dataset of over 10,000 innovative Dutch companies, some of which received venture financing. The data include detailed information on patent applications, innovation activities, financing sources, and other company characteristics. We find that companies backed by venture capital focus on the buildup of absorptive capacity, by engaging in in-house R&D, while at the same time acquiring external knowledge. We interpret this finding as a consequence of the time horizon of venture capital firms. Our results suggest that the correlation between venture capital funding and the build-up of absorptive capacity is not only due to a selection effect. We derive implications of these findings for corporate strategy and public policy. |
| Keywords: | Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Research & Development; Public Policy |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutil:12c9c009-13c2-4579-aa87-48edf1c95a89&r=cse |
| By: | Sanchez, Leonardo; Ng, Desmond |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Coherence, Industry Structure, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2015–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205389&r=cse |
| By: | Chen, Hung-Ju |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in the South on innovation, imitation, the pattern of production and wage inequality based on a North-South product-cycle model with foreign direct investment (FDI) and skills accumulation. This quality-ladder model features innovative R&D in the North and imitative R&D in the South. Two types of innovation are considered: innovation targeting all products and innovation targeting only imitated products. We find that for both types of innovation, strengthening IPR protection reduces the innovation rate and raises the imitation rate. There is also an increase in the proportion of Northern unskilled labor and a decrease in Northern wage inequality. As for the pattern of production, the extent of FDI may decrease while the extent of Northern production may increase. |
| Keywords: | Imitation; IPR; R&D; Skills; Wage inequality. |
| JEL: | F12 F23 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65745&r=cse |
| By: | Giuditta De Prato (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Daniel Nepelski (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Giuseppe Piroli (European Commission – DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion) |
| Abstract: | The European Commission's Framework Programme constitutes an important share in R&D expenditures in Europe. A number of FP7 projects certainly produce cutting-edge technologies and a significant percentage of these technologies could be commercialized. However, there is a general feeling that not all these technologies and innovations with commercial potential reach the market. The question is why? The Innovation Radar (IR) is a support initiative that focuses on the identification of high-potential innovations in the ICT FP7, CIP and H2020 projects and the key organization in delivering these innovations to the market. The current report documents the details of the IR methodology and the results of its first application. The results of the pilot exercise show that ICT FP7 projects deliver a substantial number of innovations. On average, there are nearly two new or substantially improved products or services developed within each ICT FP7 project. However, further nurturing is needed to bring them to the market and exploit their commercial potential. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, innovation assessment, FP7, H2020 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc96339&r=cse |
| By: | Ciliberti, Stefano; Bröring, Stefanie; Martino, Gaetano |
| Abstract: | Innovation is a clear target of the Europe 2020 growth strategy. It has been widely postulated that cooperation is especially important for innovation in the food industry because it has traditionally been regarded as a “low tech” sector. This paper analyses how different forms of cooperation affect innovation activities in the EU’s food industry. In particular, the study addresses the question of how cooperation between companies and key chain agents influences innovative activity. To do so, we analysed data at the country level drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). The aggregated data allowed us to investigate national system-level processes that must be considered the outcomes of micro-level decisions and policies. A random effect linear model is formulated and estimated to analyse the panel data obtained from five CIS waves. The model indicates that cooperation with universities positively affects innovative activity and, surprisingly, that government financial support has not been an effective instrument to foster innovation by food companies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, food industry, cooperation, supplier integration, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi15:206249&r=cse |
| By: | Taylor, Rebecca; Zilberman, David |
| Keywords: | Process innovation, Technology diffusion, Drip irrigation, Historical analysis, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q16, N52, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205320&r=cse |
| By: | Khan, Farid; Salim, Ruhul |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the nexus between research and development expenditure and productivity growth in Australian broadacre agriculture using country-level time-series data for the period 1953 to 2009. Using standard time-series econometrics data are analysed to examine the dynamic relationships between research and development expenditure (R&D) and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. Findings here provide econometric evidence of a co-integrating relationship between R&D and productivity growth, and a unidirectional causality emergent from R&D to TFP growth. Moreover, employing variance decomposition and impulse response function the dynamic properties of the model are explored beyond the sample periods. Findings suggest that R&D can be readily linked to the variation in productivity growth beyond the sample periods. Further, forecasting result suggests a significant out-of-sample relationship exists between the public R&D and productivity in broadacre agriculture. We used a novel method MIRR which is conceptually superior than the conventional IRR to obtain a credible estimate of returns on public research investment. We found MIRR of 10.06% per year for the reinvestment rate of 3% per year. Therefore, results establishing long run relationship between productivity and R&D in Australian agriculture shed light on the future policies in R&D investments in Australia. |
| Keywords: | Public Research & Development (R&D), Productivity, Australian Broadacre Agriculture, Cointegration, Internal Rates of Return, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare15:204432&r=cse |
| By: | Mancini, Mariacecilia; Consiglieri, Claudio |
| Keywords: | GIs, TTIP, IPRs, Parmigiano Reggiano PDO, Grana Padano PDO, Food Processing, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa145:206455&r=cse |
| By: | Lanzona, Leonardo Jr. A. |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that mainstreaming small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and social enterprises (SEs) into various international treaties will require the assumption of positive externalities, which markets cannot fully evaluate. To show this, the possible influence that SEs may have on SME development and, eventually, on employment will be discussed. SEs are small- and medium-sized commercial businesses providing valuable social service to customers and sustainable jobs and training for up to about 200 people. Their goal is to provide public goods to the communities, in the form of increased productivity and employment. What separates SEs from SMEs is that it addresses the social issues at the forefront. Through this paper, the importance of providing such public goods to SME development will be highlighted. This study shall provide inputs to the analytical framework for the Philippines' engagement in APEC under the priority theme of "Mainstreaming Small and Medium Enterprises and Employment Creation" and shall make concrete recommendations on how employment can be created through the formation of social enterprises or socially-inclusive companies. |
| Keywords: | poverty, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), social enterprises (SEs), small and medium-scale enterprises |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:dp_2015-38&r=cse |
| By: | Abdul-Salam, Yakubu; Phimister, Euan |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, International Development, |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc15:204302&r=cse |
| By: | Roberto Fattal Jaef (The World Bank); Francisco Buera (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | Development dynamics are characterized by sustained improvements in TFP, protracted increases in investment rates, and a broad transformation in the struc- ture of production. Low income countries are characterized by small average firm size, slow firm growth over the life-cycle, and significant dispersion of marginal products. In this paper we present a quantitative theory that jointly matches the behavior of firms in under-developed economies and key properties of develop- ment paths. We work with a model that features endogenous innovation decisions by entrepreneurs, reallocation of factors due to idiosyncratic productivity shocks, and selection in and out of entrepreneurship. We construct a low-TFP stationary equilibrium with dispersion in marginal products that is driven by idiosyncratic distortions. We then trigger development through a reform that liberalizes the economy from all frictions. Our quantitative theory can account well for cross- sectional and life-cycle patterns in distorted economies, and can generate develop- ment paths with rising TFP and investment dynamics, consistent with the data. Ignoring either endogenous innovation or selection in and out of entrepreneurship would lead to counter-factual transition paths, similar to those of the standard neoclassical growth model. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:274&r=cse |
| By: | Ana Célia Castro |
| Abstract: | A capacidade estatal de formular, conduzir, implementar e, em alguns casos, avaliar as políticas de ciência, tecnologia e inovação é o tema deste trabalho. O objetivo é comparar as capacidades estatais e políticas de Brasil, China e Argentina, para demarcar vantagens e desvantagens comparativas institucionais. Uma das principais conclusões do estudo é que a existência de um consenso estruturado sobre quais setores devem ser incentivados pelo Estado empreendedor, onde se encontra a fronteira tecnológica nestes setores e quais países chegaram a ela depende: i) da existência de uma retaguarda de instituições capazes de realizar estudos prospectivos e retrospectivos efetivamente considerados no processo de tomada de decisões; ii) do exercício contínuo de prospectiva tecnológica, sujeito a processos periódicos de revisão; iii) da capacidade de ter em conta os conflitos de interesse, mas igualmente de neutralizá-los, quando da construção do consenso estruturado; e, finalmente, iv) de um sistema financeiro de inovação enraizado, além de efetivo. Duas condições parecem essenciais para a coordenação do processo de modernização dos países: visões de futuro estruturadas e capacidades estatais para implementá-las. Não se trata de um contínuo de habilidades ou competências, mas de uma variedade de processos de tomada de decisão sobre estratégias de longo prazo, e de coordenação na elaboração e na implementação de políticas tecnológicas. The state capacity to formulate, supervise, and implement (and in some cases to evaluate) science, technology, and innovation policy is the subject of the present work. The goal is to compare state and policy capacity in Brazil, China, and Argentina to point out comparative institutional advantages and disadvantages. One of the study’s main conclusions is the existence of a structured consensus on what sectors the enterprising state should incentivize and promote, on where the frontier is located, and whether these countries are at the frontier of innovation depends on: the existence of a rearguard of institutions capable of undertaking prospective (and retrospective) studies that are effectively considered in the decision-making process; the continuous exercise of foresight or technological foresight, subject to processes of periodic revision; the capacity to take account of conflicts of interest, but equally to neutralize them when building structured consensus; and finally to count on a well-established but effective financial innovation system. Two conditions seem important as far as the governance of the modernization process is concerned: visions of the future and state capacities to implement them. What is at issue is not a continuous set of abilities or expertise but a variety of decision-making processes on long-term strategy and coordination in the development and implementation of technology policies. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:2106&r=cse |
| By: | Allan, Corey; Jaffe, Adam B; Sin, Isabelle |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys the existing literature on diffusion of environmentally beneficial technology. Overall, it confirms many of the lessons of the larger literature on technology diffusion: diffusion often appears slow when viewed from the outside; the flow of information is an important factor in the diffusion process; networks and organisations can matter; behavioural factors such as values and cognitive biases also play a role. With respect to policy instruments, there is some evidence that the flexibility of market-based instruments can have a beneficial impact on technology diffusion, but there are also numerous cases in which regulations have forced the adoption of new technologies. There would be significant benefit to increased investment in studies that look at questions such as the role of information provision, networks and framing issues in households’ and firms’ adoption decisions. |
| Keywords: | Technology diffusion, technology transfer, policy instruments, green technology, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O33, Q55, Q56, |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar13:187037&r=cse |
| By: | Carver, Jason |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao14:205024&r=cse |
| By: | Koirala, Krishna H.; Mishra, Ashok K.; Mohanty, Samarendu |
| Abstract: | Agricultural production determines the efficiency level of households in their farming activities. In the developing countries farmers do not use all potential technological resources, thus making inefficient decisions in their agricultural activities. So, this paper focuses to measure the technical efficiency of rice production and identified determinants of technical efficiency of rice farmers in Philippines. The Loop Survey of the Institute of Rice Research Institute (2007-2012) was analyzed using stochastic frontier production method in the Cobb-Douglas functional form. Result shows that fuel, fertilizer, land rent, planting season, and land area are the factors that affect both production and technical efficiency of rice production. We found mean technical efficiency score of 0.54. |
| Keywords: | Food security, technical efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Production, Philippines, Production, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea14:162501&r=cse |
| By: | Cadot, Julien; Alonso Ugaglia, Adeline |
| Abstract: | Cross and Buccola (2004) established that if the lenders of cooperatives are not in position to assess the “right” price to be paid for the raw-material delivered by cooperative members, these latter may push for a cash transfer which may deteriorate the financial position of the cooperative. This form of liquidation can be an exit way for cooperatives which, at the turning point of maturity, do not seek strategic alliances to increase their market power, or do not shift to a new model, according to the lifecycle approach of Cook (1995). In this research, we test this hypothesis for cooperatives of the Bordeaux wine industry. We run two regression which aim at characterizing the relationship between leverage and cash transfer to cooperative members according to the downstream strategy of cooperatives. Our results confirm our main hypothesis. The cooperatives which stay in the traditional form are prone to liquidation: the cash transfer to producers implies a higher leverage which implies a financial distress. The financial behavior of cooperatives forming union and of those which have opted for vertical integration is radically different. |
| Keywords: | cooperative finance, liquidation, lifecycle approach, wine industry, cooperative union, vertical integration, Agribusiness, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, G320, D230, Q130, |
| Date: | 2015–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205743&r=cse |
| By: | Ambroziak, Łukasz; Bułkowska, Małgorzata; Szczepaniak, Iwona |
| Abstract: | The main objective of the presented studies is to evaluate the competitiveness of the Polish food sector in the EU market and to verify the thesis that the competitiveness of this sector during Poland’s membership in the EU has increased. |
| Keywords: | food sector, Poland, European Union, foreign trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iafepr:206065&r=cse |
| By: | Erzo Luttmer (University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | Randomness in individual discovery tends to spread out productivities in a population, while learning from others keeps productivities together. In combination, these two mechanisms for knowledge accumulation give rise to long-term growth and persistent income inequality. This paper considers a world in which those with more useful knowledge can teach those with less useful knowledge, with competitive markets assigning students to teachers. In equilibrium, students who are able to learn quickly are assigned to teachers with the most productive knowledge. The long-run growth rate of this economy is governed by the rate at which the fastest learners can learn. The income distribution reflects learning ability and serendipity, both in individual discovery and in the assignment of students to teachers. Because of naturally arising indeterminacies in this assignment, payoff irrelevant characteristics can be predictors of individual income growth. Ability rents can be large when fast learners are scarce, when the process of individual discovery is not too noisy, and when overhead labor costs are low. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:249&r=cse |
| By: | Connolly, Cristina; Klaiber, H. Allen |
| Keywords: | Local food, Competition, Direct-marketing, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205704&r=cse |
| By: | Tisdell, Clem |
| Abstract: | There has been a rapid increase in global expenditure on information technology and there is still much to learn about its effects on productivity, welfare and social change. At the macro-level, it has been estimated that Internet-related value accounts for as much as 7% of GDP of some OECD economies. As discussed, two basic methods have been used to estimate the contribution of ICT to the growth in GDP. Estimates of this vary considerably but it seems that ICT’s contribution is increasing. Currently, GDP is expected to increase by about 1% for a 10% rise in ICT-capital. All industries have had added value as a result of the introduction of ICT but the overall aggregate effect is largest for the tertiary (service) sector. It is shown how the Internet can increase economic productivity (1) by reducing input costs and (2) raising allocative efficiency within enterprises. Other ways in which Internet access can increase economic welfare are via reduced market transaction costs and a decline in material and transport costs as well as by increasing the variety of available commodities. These aspects are analyzed and discussed critically. Attention is also given to the employment consequences of the use of ICT, associated health issues, and the impacts of ICT on social interaction and the environment. It is suggested that the use of the Internet for consumption may exceed it use for production. Additional matters touched on are the consequences for economic performance of ICT in education and research and in the health industry, as well as the comparative benefit of ICT to rural residents compared to city-dwellers. In conclusion, it is noted that not all IT depends on the Internet and that non-Internet IT has had little economic attention. |
| Keywords: | economic welfare, education and ICT, ICT, information technology, Internet, market transaction costs, productivity, social change, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O3, D2, D6, |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqseet:174091&r=cse |
| By: | Hirsch, Stefan; Gschwandtner, Adelina |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes profit persistence as well as the drivers of profitability in the US and EU food industry using GMM estimations. Due to different structures in firm size comparable samples of US and EU food processors are derived using Propensity Score Matching. The results indicate that the persistence of profitability in the food industry is lower compared to other manufacturing sectors. Firm specific drivers of profitability turn out to be firm size and growth as well as financial risk. Interestingly, while long-term risk has a negative impact on profit persistence in the EU, it has a positive one in the US. Regarding industry characteristics the growth rate measured by the growth in industry sales has a significant impact on profitability. While this impact is positive in the EU, it is negative in the US. |
| Keywords: | Firm profit, food industry, GMM panel estimation, propensity score matching, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, L12, L66, M21, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:206035&r=cse |
| By: | Mikkola, Minna |
| Abstract: | The paper deals with a new competition situation between a large consumer co-operative and a very small local food shop as its rival. While both businesses are selling food, their business concepts look very different. These concepts are analysed as ideology, identity and shopkeeper/retailer speech. The results show the deep cutting change in trade introduced by the small food shop as concern for sustainable food system and social relations as resources for new community building, suggesting conditional possibilities for further business growth. The large retailer has problems in answering the challenge as its concept seems to exclude concern for food system, the trade includes economic interests and rather negligible social relations. In principle, the small contester could succeed in expanding its business model through staying small and proliferating, supporting small farms’ economic viability. The large retailer could succeed by investing in launching more local and organic produce and thereby developing both primary production and processing capacity in a lagging rural region. The study shows the importance of the business concept as a condition and limitation for further growth. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi15:206208&r=cse |
| By: | Kafle, Kashi R.; Dean, Jolliffe |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, International Development, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2015–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205687&r=cse |
| By: | Parman, Bryon; Featherstone, Allen; Coffey, Brian |
| Abstract: | Nonparametric cost frontier estimation has been commonly used to examine the relative efficiency of firms without critically examining the shape of the cost frontier. To examine the shape of the cost frontier has required additional estimation using parametric methods to recover potential cost savings from multi-product and product-specific economies of scale. This paper develops and tests a method for estimating multi-product and product-specific economies of scale using the nonparametric approach by evaluating the difference between scale calculations from an assumed cost frontier and those estimated using data envelopment analysis. The results demonstrated that the nonparametric approach is able to accurately estimate multi-product economies of scale and product-specific economies of scale under alternative inefficiency distributional assumptions. |
| Keywords: | Cost Function, Efficiency Analysis, Multi-Product Economies of Scale, Product Specific Economies of Scale, Nonparametric Estimation, Economies of Scope, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C13, C14, D20, |
| Date: | 2015–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:misswp:197532&r=cse |
| By: | Gemma, Ahaibwe; Ibrahim, Kasirye |
| Abstract: | Youth unemployment continues to be a developmental challenge not only in Uganda but in several sub Saharan countries. At least 64 percent of the total unemployed persons are youth aged 18-30 years. As the government struggles to look for solutions to the unemployment challenge, one approach has been the promotion of self-employment through the establishment of National Youth Funds. Specifically, the Youth Venture Capital Fund (UYVCF) worth UGX 25bn (about US$ 10 million) was introduced in 2011 and more recently, in September 2013, government significantly boosted youth schemes by allocating UGX 265 billion (about US$ 100 million) to the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) over a five-year period. The major pillars of these initiatives are: enterprise development, job creation and business skills training and development. Using the UYVCF as a case study, this study examines the level and determinants of youth participation in the fund and evaluates the operations of the fund against the initial guidelines and design as stipulated in the Aide memoire1 between the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MFPED) and the participating banks. The study majorly relied on secondary data provided by Centenary Bank, the largest commercial bank participating in the fund and was complemented by a survey of beneficiaries as well as potential beneficiaries. The data sourced from the commercial bank provides an overview of the fund beneficiaries by basic socio economic characteristics while the field survey data was used to compare the activities of beneficiaries vis a vis non-beneficiaries. Results indicate that participation in the youth fund program is positively and significantly influenced by the age cohort of the youth entrepreneur (the older youth aged 26-35 years are more likely to access the fund compared to the younger youth (18-25 years), location of the business (urban based businesses have a higher chance of accessing the fund), type of business enterprise (those in services are more likely to access the fund loan) and business maturity. Although there has been some positive effect of the fund on business expansion, we do not find significant evidence of the youth fund effect on jobs creation. It was also discovered that the major role players are not entirely fulfilling their mandates and some have sidetracked from the initial objectives. On the policy front, we propose that for the youth fund to have a lasting impact on its intended objectives, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship should be approached comprehensively (not only the credit component) and it should target productive sectors with high employment creation potential. A strong institutional framework and elimination of obstacles to self-employment are other recommendations arising out of the study. |
| Keywords: | Youth, Youth Fund, Employment Creation, and Entrepreneurship, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eprcrs:206130&r=cse |
| By: | Mishra, Khushbu; Abdoul, Sam G.; Miranda, Mario J.; Diiro, Gracious M. |
| Keywords: | technology adoption, gender gap, dynamic estimation, panel data, food insecurity, Uganda, SSA, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, D1, J16, O12, O33, Q16, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:206550&r=cse |
| By: | Stark, Camila; Khanna, Madhu; Bi, Xiang |
| Abstract: | One dominant argument against environmental regulations is that the regulations will increase costs to facilities, causing the facilities to lay-off their workers. However, there are several ways facilities can respond to regulatory and community pressures to increase environmental performance. The facility could reduce its emissions of toxic chemicals by preventing pollution at the beginning of the process, controlling pollution by recycling or treating chemicals, or controlling pollution using end of pipe techniques. Furthermore, these responses can affect employment in different ways, depending on whether abatement activities require more or less labor and their effect on the scale of output. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of facilities’ voluntary reductions in toxic emissions on their level of employment by estimating the level pollution control and employment as a simultaneous decision made by facilities. We compare the different methods facilities use to reduce their emissions and how these methods affect facility-level employment. We apply a 3SLS model to panel data from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory and a unique facility-level dataset, which includes facility-level characteristic data on over 10,000 establishments across the United States over 15 years, from 1995 to 2011. Our results show that reductions in toxic releases had a statistically significant negative impact on employment. However, if the facility reduces emissions using prevent pollution methods through reducing emissions per unit of sales, then the facility will reduce less employment than if the facility reduced pollution using end of pipe pollution control methods. These effects are similar if the facility is reducing regulated emission as well as non-regulated emissions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental economics, Employment, Toxic Release Inventory, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q52, Q58, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205560&r=cse |