nep-ino New Economics Papers
on Innovation
Issue of 2015‒05‒09
thirteen papers chosen by
Steffen Lippert
University of Auckland

  1. The Market Value of technological innovation; evidence from European patents By Rekik, Sabrine
  2. Are R&D investments by incumbents decreasing in the availability of complementary assets for start-ups? By Luca Stanca; Herbert Dawid; Mariacristina Piva; Marco Vivarelli
  3. The Effects of Regional R&D Subsidies on Innovative SME: Evidence from Aquitaine SMEs By BEDU Nicolas; VANDERSTOCKEN Alexis
  4. The additionality effects of R&D tax credits across sectors: A cross-country microeconometric analysis By Isabel Bodas Freitas; Fulvio Castellacci; Roberto Fontana; Franco Malerba; Andrea Vezzulli
  5. The growth effects of R&D spending in the EU: A meta-analysis By Kokko, Ari; Tingvall, Patrik Gustavsson; Videnord, Josefin
  6. Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors By Akcigit, Ufuk; Baslandze, Salomé; Stantcheva, Stefanie
  7. Mergers and the Dynamics of Innovation By Xavier Boutin
  8. The impact of private equity on firms' innovation activity By Amess, Kevin; Stiebale, Joel; Wright, Mike
  9. Tax attractiveness and the location of patents By Dinkel, Andreas; Schanz, Deborah
  10. Slack Time and Innovation By Ajay Agrawal; Christian Catalini; Avi Goldfarb
  11. Innovation budgeting over the business cycle and innovation performance By Hud, Martin; Rammer, Christian
  12. Is Co-Invention Expediting Technological Catch Up? A Study of Collaboration between Emerging Country Firms and EU inventors By Elisa Giuliani; Arianna Martinelli; Roberta Rabellotti
  13. Zvi Griliches and the Economics of Technology Diffusion: Linking innovation adoption, lagged investments, and productivity growth By Paul A. David

  1. By: Rekik, Sabrine
    Abstract: This paper contributes to literature by giving more precise measures to technological innovation in order to estimate its economic value and assess its impact on the financial performance of companies in Europe. Focus is given to European patent system which is different from the American one. Financial and innovation data are collected during 1990- 2012, for 599 companies belonging to 15 industries. According to market value approach, the relationship between market-to-book ratio and knowledge assets is proved to be positive and significant. Innovation is more valuable when it contributes to wider knowledge transfer, has larger geographical and technological scopes and radical character.
    Keywords: Technological innovations; Economic value; Financial performance of companies; European patent system; Knowledge transfer;
    JEL: G31 L25 O32 O33
    Date: 2015–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dau:papers:123456789/14997&r=ino
  2. By: Luca Stanca; Herbert Dawid; Mariacristina Piva; Marco Vivarelli
    Abstract: This paper investigates, both theoretically and empirically, the implications that complementary assets needed for the formation of start-ups -proxied by the ease of access to financial resources- have on the innovative efforts of incumbent firms. In particular, we develop a theoretical model, highlighting a strategic incentive effect by which the innovative efforts of incumbent firms are decreasing in the availability of the complementary assets needed for the creation of a startup. The empirical relevance of this effect is investigated by using firm level data drawn from the third Italian Community Innovation Survey covering the period 1998-2000. The results of our empirical analysis support our theory-based insights.
    Keywords: R&D, Innovation, Start-up, Complementary Assets
    Date: 2015–04–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2015/12&r=ino
  3. By: BEDU Nicolas; VANDERSTOCKEN Alexis
    Abstract: Many studies have looked at the effectiveness of public schemes supporting private R&D but few have highlighted the role regions play in R&D funding. The present article assesses the R&D support package developed in the Aquitaine, France’s number one region in terms of proportion of budget spent on innovation. Its findings show that regional subsidies have induced local SMEs to increase their R&D resources and accelerate their expansion. More broadly, the article enhances understanding of the determinants explaining the effectiveness of public actions supporting private R&D.
    Keywords: SME, R&D subsidies, regional Science and Technology policy, public policy evaluation.
    JEL: H71 O3 R11 R58
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2015-13&r=ino
  4. By: Isabel Bodas Freitas (Grenoble School of Management); Fulvio Castellacci (TIK Centre, University of Oslo); Roberto Fontana (Bocconi University); Franco Malerba (Bocconi University); Andrea Vezzulli (Bocconi University)
    Abstract: Do the additionality effects of R&D tax credits vary across sectors? The paper presents a microeconometric analysis of this question for three countries: Norway, Italy and France. We use a panel of firm-level data from three waves of the Innovation Surveys carried out in these countries, referring to the years 2004, 2006 and 2008 respectively. The study estimates input and output additionality effects of R&D tax credits in each of these economies, and it investigates how these effects differ across sectors characterized by different R&D orientation and competition conditions. The results point out that firms in industries with high R&D orientation and in sectors with high market concentration are on average more responsive to fiscal incentives to R&D.
    Date: 2015–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20150424&r=ino
  5. By: Kokko, Ari; Tingvall, Patrik Gustavsson; Videnord, Josefin
    Abstract: In this paper the authors conduct a meta-analysis to examine the link between R&D spending and economic growth in the EU and other regions. The results suggest that the growth-enhancing effect of R&D in the EU15 countries does not differ from that in other countries in general, but it is less significant than that for other industrialized countries. A closer inspection of the data reveals that the weak results for the EU15 stem from comparisons with the US - the US has been able to generate a stronger growth response from its R&D spending. Possible explanations for the US advantage include higher private sector investment in R&D and stronger public-private sector linkages than in the EU. Hence, to reduce the "innovation gap" vis-à-vis the US, it may not be enough for the EU to raise the share of R&D expenditures in GDP: continuous improvements in the European innovation system will also be needed, with focus on areas like private sector R&D and public-private sector linkages.
    Keywords: meta-analysis,R&D,European Union,EU15,USA,economic growth
    JEL: F43 O51 O52
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201529&r=ino
  6. By: Akcigit, Ufuk; Baslandze, Salomé; Stantcheva, Stefanie
    Abstract: This paper studies the effect of top tax rates on inventors' mobility since 1977. We put special emphasis on "superstar" inventors, those with the most and most valuable patents. We use panel data on inventors from the United States and European Patent Offices to track inventors' locations over time and combine it with international effective top tax rate data. We construct a detailed set of proxies for inventors' counterfactual incomes in each possible destination country including, among others, measures of patent quality and technological fit with each potential destination. We find that superstar top 1% inventors are significantly affected by top tax rates when deciding where to locate. The elasticity of the number of domestic inventors to the net-of-tax rate is relatively small, between 0.04 and 0.06, while the elasticity of the number of foreign inventors is much larger, around 1.3. The elasticities to top net-of-tax rates decline as one moves down the quality distribution of inventors. Inventors who work in multinational companies are more likely to take advantage of tax differentials. On the other hand, if the company of an inventor has a higher share of its research activity in a given country, the inventor is less sensitive to the tax rate in that country.
    Keywords: income taxes; innovation; inventors; migration; taxation
    JEL: F22 H24 H31 J44 J61 O31 O32 O33
    Date: 2015–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10565&r=ino
  7. By: Xavier Boutin
    Keywords: mergers; innovation; dynamics models; consumer welfare
    JEL: C61 G34 O31
    Date: 2015–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/199235&r=ino
  8. By: Amess, Kevin; Stiebale, Joel; Wright, Mike
    Abstract: The paper analyses the impact of private equity (PE) backed leveraged buyouts (LBOs) on innovation output (patenting). Using a sample of 407 UK deals we find that LBOs have a positive causal effect on patent stock and quality-adjusted patent stock. Our results imply a 6% increase in quality-adjusted patent stock three years after the deal. The increase in innovation activity is concentrated among private-to-private transactions with a 14% increase in the quality-adjusted patent stock. Further analysis supports the argument that PE firms facilitate the relaxation of financial constraints. We also rule out alternative explanations for portfolio firms' higher patenting activity. Our findings suggest that PE firms do not promote short-term cost-cutting at the expense of entrepreneurial investment opportunities with a long-term payoff.
    Keywords: private equity,leveraged buyout,entrepreneurial buyouts,innovation
    JEL: D22 G32 G34 L26
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:184&r=ino
  9. By: Dinkel, Andreas; Schanz, Deborah
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of taxation on the location of patents within multinational groups. Based on groups with parents from 36 countries globally and their patent holdings in 36 European countries, we provide insight into the determinants of three subsequent decisions: (1) the decision of whether to locate patents abroad; (2) in which countries to locate patents; and (3) how many patents to locate in each country. Our findings indicate that multinationals take the tax attractiveness of countries into account when making these decisions. Specifically, we show that the statutory tax rate, the taxation of royalties, R&D incentives, and transfer pricing rules help to explain the patent-location choices of multinationals.
    Keywords: International taxation,Tax attractiveness,Intellectual property,Location decision,Multinational enterprise
    JEL: H25 H73 F23
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:arqudp:188&r=ino
  10. By: Ajay Agrawal; Christian Catalini; Avi Goldfarb
    Abstract: The extant literature linking slack time to innovation focuses on how slack time facilitates creative activities such as ideation, experimentation, and prototype development. We turn attention to how slack time may enable activities that are less creative but still important for innovation, namely mundane, execution-oriented tasks. First, we document the main effect: a sharp rise in innovative projects posted on a major crowdfunding platform when colleges are on break. Next, we report timing and project type evidence consistent with the causal interpretation that slack time drives innovation. Finally, we present a series of results consistent with the mundane task mechanism but not with the traditional creativity-related explanations. We do not rule out the possibility that creativity benefits from slack time. Instead, we introduce the idea that mundane, execution-oriented tasks, such as those associated with launching a crowdfunding campaign (e.g., administration, planning, promotion), are an important input to innovation that may benefit significantly from slack time.
    JEL: J22 L26 O31
    Date: 2015–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21134&r=ino
  11. By: Hud, Martin; Rammer, Christian
    Abstract: The global economic crisis of 2008/2009 hit many firms hard. Faced with rapidly declining sales and highly uncertain economic prospects, firms had to cut costs and reconsider their business strategies. With respect to innovation, cost cutting often means to stop or underresource innovation projects which may harm a firm's long-term competitiveness. Firms may therefore refrain from reducing innovation budgets during crises but rather deliberately allocate more resources to innovation activities in order to update their product portfolio for the following recovery. Our analysis examines the effects of changes in innovation budgets during the most recent economic crisis on firms' post-crisis innovation performance. Based on firm-level panel data from the German Innovation Survey covering the period 2006 to 2012, we find a positive effect of crisis adjustment. Raising the ratio of innovation expenditure to sales does increase subsequent sales of market novelties, but not of product imitations. Our findings are dependent upon the way business cycle effects are measured, however. While the results hold for macroeconomic business cycle indicators (change in real GDP), they do not for demand changes in a firm's primary sales market. This may imply that lower opportunity costs of innovation during an economic crisis are transferred into higher post-crisis new product sales by firms in markets less strongly affected by the crisis.
    JEL: O31 O32 E32 L25 D22
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:15030&r=ino
  12. By: Elisa Giuliani; Arianna Martinelli; Roberta Rabellotti
    Abstract: Firms from emerging countries such as Brazil, India, and China (BIC) are going global, and Europe is attracting around one-third of their direct outward investments. Growing internationalization constitutes an opportunity for technological catch up. In this paper we analyze BIC firms' cross-border inventions with European Union (EU-27) actors, during the period 1990-2012. Our results suggest that cross-border inventions represent an opportunity for BIC firms to accumulate technological capabilities, access frontier knowledge, and appropriate the property rights of co-inventions. This paper contributes to the understanding of the catching up process by emerging country firms, and offers some policy recommendations.
    Keywords: Emerging Countries, Multinationals, Technological Catch Up, Patents, European Union
    Date: 2015–04–24
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2015/10&r=ino
  13. By: Paul A. David (Stanford University)
    Abstract: The scientific legacy of Zvi Griliches' contribution to the economic analysis of the diffusion of technological innovations is the subject of this paper. It begins with an examination of the relationship between Griliches' pioneering empirical work on the introduction and adoption of hybrid corn and the subsequent development of theoretical models and econometric research on the microeconomic determinants of diffusion. Next, it formalizes the way that the dynamics of diffusion observed at the aggregate level is shaped by structural conditions at the micro-level – on both the supply and the demand sides of the market for products embodying technological innovations, both of which were addressed by Griliches (1957). It then points out the reflections of those processes in lagged behavior of aggregate investment in durable capital-embodied innovations – often regarded as an independent subject of Griliches' analytical and econometric research. The latter connection, and its link with productivity changes stemming from embodied technical change, are made explicit by the model of micro-to-macro relationships affecting the total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate that is presented in the third major section of the paper (and the Appendix). The three foregoing dynamic phenomena - diffusion, durable investment lags, and TFP growth – were the topics of Griliches' three most widely journal articles, respectively. The connections among them have not been generally noticed by economists, and, indeed they remained implicit his writings until late in his career, when he emphasized the diffusion-productivity nexus as a key proximate determinant of the pace of economic growth – a perception whose importance remains insufficiently appreciated in current policy discussions that focus attention on "innovation" as the driver of intensive growth. Having directed attention to the microeconomics of technology adoption underlying the 'transitions' during which the diffusion of major innovations generate surges in innovation-embodying capital formation, and to the consequent waves in the TFP growth rate at the industry and sectoral levels, should be seen as prominent among the important and enduring contributions that Zvi Griliches made to modern economics.
    Keywords: Ntechnology adoption, innovations, diffusion, investment lags, learning-by-doing, heterogeneous adopters, contagion model, threshold model, micro-macro models, labor productivity and TFP growth-surges.
    JEL: D22 D24 O33 O4
    Date: 2015–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sip:dpaper:15-005&r=ino

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