|
on Innovation |
| By: | Marcel Boyer; Jacques Robert |
| Abstract: | <P>Ce texte vise à circonscrire les fondements d’une politique gouvernementale à l’égard du logiciel libre et ouvert (open source software). Nous caractérisons brièvement l’ampleur du phénomène du logiciel libre et nous en analysons les avantages et inconvénients pour le gouvernement tant comme moteur du développement économique que comme grand utilisateur de technologies d’information et de communications. Nous concluons par un ensemble de recommandations à l’intention du gouvernement, tant de nature « politique économique et industrielle » que de nature « grand utilisateur » face au développement du logiciel libre et ouvert. |
| Keywords: | , logiciel libre, propriété intellectuelle, code source libre, code source ouvert, système d’exploitation libre, licence GPL, licence BSD, innovation, effet d’arborescence |
| Date: | 2005–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirpro:2005rp-05&r=ino |
| By: | Amit Basu; Thomas F. Siems |
| Abstract: | New information technologies and e-business solutions have transformed supply chain operations from mass production to mass customization. This paper assesses the impact of these innovations on economic productivity, focusing on the macroeconomic benefits as supply chain operations have evolved from simple production and planning systems to today's real-time performance-management information systems using advanced e-business technologies. While many factors can influence macroeconomic variables, the impact of IT-enabled supply chains should not be overlooked. We find evidence that the impact of e-business technologies on supply chain operations have resulted in a reduced "bullwhip effect," lower inventory, reduced logistics costs, and streamlined procurement processes. These improvements, in turn, have likely helped to lower inflation, reduce economic volatility, strengthen productivity growth, and improve standards of living. |
| Keywords: | Information technology ; Macroeconomics ; Productivity |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:04-04&r=ino |
| By: | Michelle P. Connolly; Diego Valderrama |
| Abstract: | A simple intellectual property rights (IPRs) framework is introduced into a dynamic quality ladder model of technological diffusion between innovating firms in one country and imitating firms in another country. The presence of technological spillovers and feedback effects between firms in the two countries demonstrates that preferred IPR regimes are ones that positively affect world growth and hence welfare in both countries. Most existing models of international IPRs, however, generally find that high intellectual property enforcement in the imitating country leads to welfare gains in the innovating country at the expense of the imitating country. An well-designed IPR regime imposed at the time of trade liberalization will be welfare enhancing for both regions relative to trade liberalization without IPR enforcement. Moreover, the preferred IPR regime will be one that maintains competition from imitative activity but enforces some remuneration to innovators for the spillovers they generate. |
| Keywords: | Intellectual property ; Research and development ; Trade |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfap:2004-23&r=ino |
| By: | Adam Copeland |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the evolution of firms' beliefs in a dynamic model of technology adoption. Firms play a simple variant of the classic two-armed bandit problem, where one arm represents a known, deterministic production technology and the other arm an unknown, stochastic technology. Firms learn about the unknown technology by observing both private and public signals. I find that because of the externality associated with the public signal, the evolution of beliefs under a market equilibrium can differ significantly from that under a planner. In particular, firms experiment earlier under the planner than they do under the market equilibrium and thus firms under the planner generate more information at the start of the model. This intertemporal effect brings about the unusual result that, on a per period basis, there exist cases where firms in a market equilibrium over-experiment relative to the planner in the latter periods of the model. |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2004-67&r=ino |
| By: | Bruce Fallick; Charles A. Fleischman; James B. Rebitzer |
| Abstract: | In Silicon Valley's computer cluster, skilled employees are reported to move rapidly between competing firms. If true, this job-hopping facilitates the reallocation of resources towards firms with superior innovations, but it also creates human capital externalities that reduce incentives to invest in new knowledge. Outside of California, employers can use non-compete agreements to reduce mobility costs, but these agreements are unenforceable under California law. Until now, the claim of "hyper-mobility" of workers in Silicon has not been rigorously investigated. Using new data on labor mobility we find higher rates of job-hopping for college-educated men in Silicon Valley's computer industry than in computer clusters located out of the state. Mobility rates in other California computer clusters are similar to Silicon Valley's, suggesting some role for state laws restricting non-compete agreements. Outside of the computer industry, California's mobility rates are no higher than elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | Labor mobility - California ; Computer industry - California ; High technology industries - California |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2005-11&r=ino |
| By: | Antoine Martin; Michael J. Orlando |
| Abstract: | We consider an environment in which participants make payments over a network and can invest in a technology that reduces the marginal cost of using the network. A network effect results in multiple equilibria; either all agents invest and usage of the network is high or no agents invest and usage of the network is low. The high-usage equilibrium can be implemented through introduction of a coordinator. Under monopoly network ownership, however, fixed costs associated with use of the network-specific technology result in a hold-up problem that implements the low-investment equilibrium. And even where subsidies can avoid such hold-up, optimal monopoly pricing of network usage may avoid investment in the network-specific technology if demand for on-network transactions is sufficiently inelastic. |
| Keywords: | Payment systems |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp04-11&r=ino |
| By: | Michele Boldrin; David K. Levine |
| Abstract: | Innovation and the adoption of new ideas are fundamental to economic progress. Here we examine the underlying economics of the market for ideas. From a positive perspective, we examine how such markets function with and without government intervention. From a normative perspective, we examine the pitfalls of existing institutions, and how they might be improved. We highlight recent research by ourselves and others challenging the notion that government awards of monopoly through patents and copyright are “the way” to provide appropriate incentives for innovation. |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:357&r=ino |
| By: | Michele Boldrin; David K. Levine |
| Abstract: | Intellectual property protection involves a trade-off between the undesirability of monopoly and the desirable encouragement of creation and innovation. As the scale of the market increases, due either to economic and population growth or to the expansion of trade through treaties such as the World Trade Organization, this trade-off changes. We show that, generally speaking, the socially optimal amount of protection decreases as the scale of the market increases. We also provide simple empirical estimates of how much it should decrease. |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:360&r=ino |
| By: | Yongsung Chang; Jay H. Hong |
| Abstract: | We find that technology's effect on employment varies greatly across manufacturing industries. Some industries exhibit a temporary reduction in employment in response to a permanent increase in TFP, whereas far more industries exhibit an employment increase in response to a permanent TFP shock. This raises serious questions about existing work that finds that a labor productivity shock has a strong negative effect on employment. There are tantalizing and interesting differences between TFP and labor productivity. We argue that TFP is a more natural measure of technology because labor productivity reflects shifts in the input mix as well as in technology. |
| Keywords: | Technology - Economic aspects ; Manufactures ; Employment |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:05-5&r=ino |
| By: | Andreas Hornstein; Per Krussell; Giovanni L. Violante |
| Abstract: | In this chapter we inspect economic mechanisms through which technological progress shapes the degree of inequality among workers in the labor market. A key focus is on the rise of U.S. wage inequality over the past 30 years. However, we also pay attention to how Europe did not experience changes in wage inequality but instead saw a sharp increase in unemployment and an increased labor share of income, variables that remained stable in the U.S. We hypothesize that these changes in labor market inequalities can be accounted for by the wave of capital-embodied technological change, which we also document. We propose a variety of mechanisms based on how technology increases the returns to education, ability, experience, and "luck" in the labor market. We also discuss how the wage distribution may have been indirectly influenced by technical change through changes in certain aspects of the organization of work, such as the hierarchical structure of firms, the extent of unionization, and the degree of centralization of bargaining. To account for the U.S.-Europe differences, we use a theory based on institutional differences between the United States and Europe, along with a common acceleration of technical change. Finally, we briefly comment on the implications of labor market inequalities for welfare and for economic policy. |
| Keywords: | Labor market ; Technology |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:04-08&r=ino |
| By: | Svaleryd, Helena (The Research Institute of Industrial Economics); Vlachos, Jonas (The Research Institute of Industrial Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically address the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the supply of human capital and the rate and direction of skill-biased technical change (SBTC). Using country- and industry-level data on OECD countries, we find R&D to be positively related to the supply of human capital. There is, however, no indication that this translates into higher rates of SBTC, when SBTC is measured as changes in the wage bill share of skilled labor. Interestingly, both R&D and the rate of SBTC seem to be relatively high in low-skill industries in countries where the supply of human capital is relatively high. |
| Keywords: | Skilled-biased Technical Change; Supply of Human Capital |
| JEL: | J32 O31 |
| Date: | 2005–05–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0640&r=ino |
| By: | William E. Griffiths (Centre for Microeconometrics, Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne); Paul H. Jensen (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne); Elizabeth Webster (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | The effects of innovation on firm performance is conventionally analysed using R&D or patent applications as measures for innovation capital and market value as the measure of firm performance. We argue that such studies fall short in three important respects. First, the proxies used for innovation capital are flows not stocks as the theory suggests. Secondly, while they are derived from the theory of intangible capital, their estimations ignore other important intangible capital such as organisational and marketing capital; and thirdly, by using market value, the studies heroically assume that stock markets work efficiently. In this paper, we develop a model of the effects of intangible capital, including, but not limiting to, innovation capital, on firm profits, using new measures for the former. Our results indicate that profits vary, ceteris paribus, according to the type of IP rights held by the firm, the age of the firm, the size of the firm, and the lifespan of the IP right. |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2005n04&r=ino |
| By: | Paul H. Jensen (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne); Alfons Palangkaraya (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne); Elizabeth Webster (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | While most developed countries apply the same criteria to determine whether an invention is eligible to be protected by a patent, there are substantial procedural differences in the way in which different patent offices examine a patent application. This means that a patent application may be granted in one jurisdiction but rejected in others, which raises welfare concerns about the ability of patents to provide an ex ante incentive for investment. In this article, we analyze whether there are systematic differences in patent application outcomes across the trilateral patent offices. In order to determine how much “disharmony” exists, we examine whether the patent offices make consistent decisions for a given invention using a dataset of 70,000 patent applications that have been granted in the US and submitted in Japan and Europe and have a single, common priority application. Specifically, we model the patent application outcomes using a multinomial logit to see how the decisions made by the patent offices vary across different patent characteristics such as technology area, non-obviousness of the invention and priority country. |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2005n05&r=ino |
| By: | Mennecke, Brian; Townsend, Anthony |
| Abstract: | This manuscript reports on a project to examine the feasibility of extensive radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging to determine product provenance in the meat production industry. The investigators examined existing technologies and meat production processes as well as emerging technologies in RFID tagging to assess the potential of RFID technologies for provenance assurance. While RFID technologies hold tremendous promise for traceability, the current state of the technology and production process creates challenges for effectively creating full traceability. However, RFID holds tremendous potential for improving processing throughput, which will help make RFID-based traceability more attractive for adoption by meat processors. |
| Date: | 2005–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12359&r=ino |
| By: | Pierre Azoulay; Waverly Ding; Toby Stuart |
| Abstract: | We examine the individual, contextual, and institutional determinants of faculty patenting behavior in a panel dataset spanning the careers of 3,884 academic life scientists. Using a combination of discrete time hazard rate models and fixed effects logistic models, we find that patenting events are preceded by a flurry of publications, even holding constant time-invariant scientific talent and the latent patentability of a scientist's research. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect of this flurry is influenced by context --- such as the presence of coauthors who patent and the patent stock of the scientist's university. Whereas previous research emphasized that academic patenters are more accomplished on average than their non-patenting counterparts, our findings suggest that patenting behavior is also a function of scientific opportunities. This result has important implications for the public policy debate surrounding academic patenting. |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11348&r=ino |
| By: | Benjamin F. Jones |
| Abstract: | Great achievements in knowledge are produced by older innovators today than they were a century ago. Using data on Nobel Prize winners and great inventors, I find that the age at which noted innovations are produced has increased by approximately 6 years over the 20th Century. This trend is consistent with a shift in the life-cycle productivity of great minds. It is also consistent with an aging workforce. The paper employs a semi-parametric maximum likelihood model to (1) test between these competing explanations and (2) locate any specific shifts in life-cycle productivity. The productivity explanation receives considerable support. I find that innovators are much less productive at younger ages, beginning to produce major ideas 8 years later at the end of the 20th Century than they did at the beginning. Furthermore, the later start to the career is not compensated for by increasing productivity beyond early middle age. I show that these distinct shifts for knowledge-based careers are consistent with a knowledge-based theory, where the accumulation of knowledge across generations leads innovators to seek more education over time. More generally, the results show that individual innovators are productive over a narrowing span of their life cycle, a trend that reduces -- other things equal -- the aggregate output of innovators. This drop in productivity is particularly acute if innovators' raw ability is greatest when young. |
| JEL: | O3 O4 J2 I2 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11359&r=ino |
| By: | Benjamin F. Jones |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates, theoretically and empirically, a possibly fundamental aspect of technological progress. If knowledge accumulates as technology progresses, then successive generations of innovators may face an increasing educational burden. Innovators can compensate in their education by seeking narrower expertise, but narrowing expertise will reduce their individual capacities, with implications for the organization of innovative activity - a greater reliance on teamwork - and negative implications for growth. I develop a formal model of this "knowledge burden mechanism" and derive six testable predictions for innovators. Over time, educational attainment will rise while increased specialization and teamwork follow from a sufficiently rapid increase in the burden of knowledge. In cross-section, the model predicts that specialization and teamwork will be greater in deeper areas of knowledge while, surprisingly, educational attainment will not vary across fields. I test these six predictions using a micro-data set of individual inventors and find evidence consistent with each prediction. The model thus provides a parsimonious explanation for a range of empirical patterns of inventive activity. Upward trends in academic collaboration and lengthening doctorates, which have been noted in other research, can also be explained by the model, as can much-debated trends relating productivity growth and patent output to aggregate inventive effort. The knowledge burden mechanism suggests that the nature of innovation is changing, with negative implications for long-run economic growth. |
| JEL: | O3 O4 J2 I2 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11360&r=ino |