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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Christ, Julian P. |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial configuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) Files. The matching between International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We confirm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops) and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specific co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi-field network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks. -- |
| Keywords: | co-patenting,co-inventorship,networks,linkages,co-location,RegPAT |
| JEL: | C8 O31 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohpro:y2010i31p1-40&r=eur |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (JRC-IPTS); Marco Vivarelli (Università Cattolica, Milano; CSGR-Warwick University; IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In this study we use a unique database covering 25 manufacturing and service sectors for 15 European countries over the period 1996-2005, for a total of 2,295 observations, and apply GMM-SYS panel estimations of a demand-for-labour equation augmented with technology. We find that R&D expenditures -fostering product innovation- have a job-creating effect, in accordance with the previous theoretical and empirical literature discussed in the paper. Interestingly enough, the labour-friendly nature of R&D emerges in both the flow and the stock specifications. These findings provide further justification for the European Lisbon-Barcelona targets. |
| Keywords: | Technological change, corporate R&D, employment, product innovation, GMM-SYS |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201004&r=eur |
| By: | Michele Cincera (JRC-IPTS); Julien Ravet (Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the existence and importance of financing constraints for R&D investments in large EU and US manufacturing companies over the 2000 – 2007 period. The main results obtained by estimating error-correction equations suggest that the sensitivity of R&D investments to cash flow variations are important for European firms while US ones do not appear to be financially constrained. In terms of policy implications, these results suggest improving the conditions for access to external capital to finance R&D activities in the EU. |
| Keywords: | Financial constraints, R&D investments, error-correction investment equations, system GMM panel data econometric models |
| JEL: | C23 E22 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201003&r=eur |
| By: | Benjamin (Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin); |
| Abstract: | The eastern enlargement of the European Union in 2004 triggered a large flow of migrant workers from the new member states to the UK and Ireland. This paper analyzes the impact of this migration wave on the real wages in the source countries. I consider the case of Lithuania, which had the highest share of emigrants relative to its workforce among all ten new member states. Using data from the Lithuanian Household Budget Survey and the Irish Census, I find that emigration had a significant positive effect on the wages of men who stayed in the country, but no such effect is visible for women. A percentage point increase in the emigration rate increases the real wage of men on average by 1\%. Several robustness checks confirm this result. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, EU Enlargement, Labor Mobility |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp326&r=eur |
| By: | Pietro Moncada-Paternò-Castello (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | Policy-makers have become increasingly aware that corporate R&D and innovation are the main drivers of an economy's competitiveness and growth. The widespread adoption of R&D targets has led researchers and analysts to pursue a deeper understanding of corporate R&D investment trends, drivers and impacts. This paper focuses on the main differences between the EU and the US in corporate R&D performance, especially in the following three main aspects: (i) dynamics of the economic structures and the cause of the R&D intensity gap; (ii) R&D performance and company demographics and (iii) financial availability and corporate R&D investment. Based on the literature review, the paper concludes that (a) there have been more dynamic changes in the structure of the US economy than in the EU in the last two decades which in turn have favoured the growth in the US of higher R&D-intensity sectors to a larger extent than in the EU; (b) younger and smaller-sized US companies are more present - and show a higher capacity to grow - in high-R&D intensity sectors than similar companies in the EU; (c) financial markets, especially in the last decade, have hampered EU firms' R&D investment more than that of US firms. The paper concludes that policy measures to stimulate corporate R&D and innovation activities should be expressly conceived according to the typology of companies, sectors and countries. |
| Keywords: | Corporate R&D, EU-US comparison, industrial dynamics, technological change, innovation process, government policy |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201001&r=eur |
| By: | Pahnke, Luise; Honekamp, Ivonne |
| Abstract: | Financial literacy or “what consumers know about finance” has become part of the scientific discussion in recent years. In Germany, as in many other countries, the structure of social security benefits has changed substantially. Using the German SAVE study conducted by the Mannheim Institute for the Economics of Aging, in this paper financial literacy in Germany is measured and its effect on private retirement provisions is examined. Therefore, the SAVE data is empirically analysed whether financial literacy has an impact on the retirement savings decision in Germany. With our analysis we were able to prove that financial literacy encourages individual retirement planning for households with an above-average income. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy; Retirement savings; Private pensions; Germany; SAVE |
| JEL: | D14 |
| Date: | 2010–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22900&r=eur |
| By: | Ziga Zarnic |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an ex-post empirical analysis of the impact of European electricity mar- ket reforms on markups of rms. The working hypothesis is that further economic integration would bring competition into electricity markets re ected by lower markups of electricity rms. The results show that reforms have gradually reduced the markups, but the markup premium of incumbent rms is on average larger than theoretical models would predict under eective economic integration. Considering regional proximity and heterogeneity of rms along the supply chain, the results suggest that better market access and cross-border arbitrage disci- plined the markups, but have not led to competitive market outcomes due to prevailing market concentration and insucient unbundling of transmission and distribution channels. |
| Keywords: | Economic integration; electricity rms; EU; price-cost margins; service market regulation |
| JEL: | F10 L11 L51 L94 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:26110&r=eur |
| By: | Maren Lurweg |
| Abstract: | The present paper investigates the impact of international trade on individual labour market outcomes in the German service sector for the period 1995-2006. Combining micro-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and industry-level trade data from input-output tables, we examine the impacts of international trade on (1) the individually reported fear of job loss and (2) job-to-unemployment transitions. We therefore apply both a “subjective” and a more “objective” measure of job insecurity. Our results indicate that international trade does indeed affect labour market outcomes in German service industries. Employees in trading service sectors face both a higher subjective and objective unemployment risk, regardless of their skill level. Moreover, growth in real net exports is positively correlated with perceived job insecurity and individual unemployment risk. |
| Keywords: | International trade, perceived job insecurity, employment status |
| JEL: | F16 C23 J63 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp300&r=eur |
| By: | Michele Cincera (JRC-IPTS); Claudio Cozza (JRC-IPTS); Alexander Tübke (JRC-IPTS) |
| Abstract: | Based on an original and recent sample representative of the largest R&D corporations in the EU, this paper aims at investigating in a quantitative way the main factors explaining: (i) the decision of firms to increase their R&D investment effort in the near future; (ii) the main drivers explaining the favourite international location choice for R&D; and (iii) the impact of direct and indirect policies to support R&D activities in the EU. The main findings suggest that competitive pressures from the US are the main determinants for increasing R&D investments. Public support to R&D and proximity to other activities of the company influence the decision to locate R&D in the home country. Considerations on the cost of employing researchers become one factor among others only for firms preferring a location outside their home country, in particular in the rest of the world (countries other than the EU or the US). |
| Keywords: | Drivers of R&D internationalisation, R&D policies, EU large R&D corporations |
| JEL: | F23 O32 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201002&r=eur |
| By: | Julien Chevallier (EconomiX - CNRS : UMR7166 - Université de Paris X - Nanterre) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the modelling of the convenience yield in the European carbon market by using daily and intradaily measures of volatility. The convenience yield stems from differences in spot and futures prices, and can explain why firms hold inventories. The main findings are that (i) a simple AR(4) process best describes the 2008 convenience yield, and (ii) there exists a non linear relation between spot and futures prices. The approach developed in this article captures 74% of the explanatory power for the 2008 convenience yield variable in an autoregressive framework, with carbon spot price levels, moving averages and carbon futures realized volatility measures as exogenous regressors. These results are of interest for energy utilities, risk-managers, and traders exposed to the variation of carbon prices. |
| Keywords: | Convenience Yield; Carbon Price; EU ETS; High frequency Data; Realized Volatility |
| Date: | 2010–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00463921_v2&r=eur |
| By: | Giuseppe Bertola; Aurelijus Dabušinskas; Marco Hoeberichts; Mario Izquierdo; Claudia Kwapil; Jérémi Montornès; Daniel Radowski |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses information from survey data collected in the framework of the Eurosystem\'s Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) on patterns of firm-level adjustment to shocks. We document that the relative intensity and the character of price vs. cost and wage vs. employment adjustments in response to cost-push shocks depend - in theoretically sensible ways - on the intensity of competition in firms\' product markets, on the importance of collective wage bargaining and on other structural and institutional features of firms and of their environment. Focusing on the pass-through of cost shocks to prices, our results suggest that the pass-through is lower in highly competitive firms. Furthermore, a high degree of employment protection and collective wage agreements tend to make this pass-through stronger |
| Keywords: | wage bargaining, labour-market institutions, survey data, European Union |
| JEL: | J31 J38 P50 |
| Date: | 2010–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2010-07&r=eur |