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on Innovation |
| By: | Claudio Fassio; Alessandra Venturini |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the French and the UK Labour Force Surveys and the German Microcensus to estimate the effects of different components of the labour force on innovation at the sectoral level between 1994 and 2005. The authors focus, in particular, on the contribution of migrant workers. We adopt a production function approach in which we control for the usual determinants of innovation, such as R&D investments, stock of patents and openness to trade. To address possible endogeneity of migrants we implement instrumental variable strategies using both two-stage least squares with external instruments and GMM-SYS with internal ones. In addition we also account for the possible endogeneity of native workers and instrument them accordingly. Our results show that highly-educated migrants have a positive effect on innovation even if the effect is smaller relative to the positive effect of educated natives. Moreover, this positive effect seems to be confined to the high-tech sectors and among highly-educated migrants from other European countries. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Migration, Skills, Human capital |
| JEL: | O31 O33 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/41&r=ino |
| By: | Teruel, Mercedes; Parra, Maria Dolores; Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- |
| Abstract: | Traditionally, researchers have considered the innovation process as being gender neutral. However, recently some studies have begun to take gender diversity into account as a determinant of firms’ innovation. This paper aims to analyse how the effect of gender diversity on innovation output at firm level is sensitive to team size. Using the Spanish PITEC (Panel de Innovación Tecnológica) from 2007 to 2012 for innovative manufacturing and service firms, we estimate a multivariate probit model to analyse how gender diversity both in R&D teams and in the total workforce affect product, process, marketing and organizational innovations. Our results show that gender-diverse teams increase the probability of innovating, and this capacity is positively related team size. Gender diversity, in both the R&D department and the total workforce, has a larger positive impact on the probability of carrying out product and organizational innovations in larger teams than it does in smaller teams. This effect is less clear-cut in the case of marketing and process innovation, where the impact is only significant for micro and small firms. Finally, size effects are of greater importance when we distinguish between the manufacturing and service sectors. JEL Code: O30, O31, J16 |
| Keywords: | Innovacions tecnològiques, Treball en equip, Personal Administració, Rol sexual en el medi laboral, 33 - Economia, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/249234&r=ino |
| By: | Francesco Di Comite (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); D'Artis Kancs (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Wouter Torfs (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents and applies a dynamic spatial computable general equilibrium model - RHOMOLO - to assess the impact of research, technological development and innovation policies in the EU. RHOMOLO is parameterised by econometrically estimating the relationship between regional productivity and R\&D intensity by applying a technology catch-up model to the EU regional context. Our simulation results suggest that a dynamic spatial computable general equilibrium approach is particularly useful for handling spillovers of investments in the innovation capacity of the regions, both of which cannot be captured by models in which the spatial structure is not present. The paper shows the strengths and limitations of the approach, and the advantages of aligning the spatially and sectorally disaggregated models with more aggregated dynamic macro models. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation policy, macroeconomic modelling, dynamic spatial general equilibrium, RHOMOLO, QUEST. |
| JEL: | C68 D24 D58 H50 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc89558&r=ino |
| By: | Chryssoula Pentheroudakis |
| Abstract: | The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) organised the Conference "Innovation in the European digital single market - The Role of Patents". This conference aimed to provide reliable evidence based on patent data analysis to support European innovation policies for a Digital Single Market. The advancement of the digital economy in Europe does not only bring unmatched opportunities, but also a series of challenges in the area of intellectual property rights. This is particularly true for the patent system which has to strike the right balance between providing incentives for research and development investments while enabling at the same time the dissemination and re-use of technological knowledge. The difficulties of striking this balance are most apparent in the field of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), where standardization and interoperability are important for the implementation of a Digital Single Market. In order to pin down the role of patents in the new digital economy, it is important to look at the broader economic, legal, technological and policy context and achieve a better understanding of what is at stake in the current dynamics. It is a volatile landscape marked by patent wars, high litigation costs, overlapping rights, hold-up scenarios in the field of standardization and radical market shifts deriving from convergent technologies and emerging platform-centric business models. Against this background, the stakes are high with regards to many issues: interoperability, reasonable and timely access to key technologies and technical knowledge, legal certainty, unfettered competition and a secured return on investment in research and development. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Digital Single Market, patents |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc96728&r=ino |
| By: | Christian Longhi (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis; GREDEG-CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Since the development of the knowledge based economies, clusters and clusters policies have been the subject of increased interest, as sources of knowledge, innovation, and competitiveness. The paper focuses on a case study drawn from the French cluster policy, the pole of competitiveness 'Secure Communicating Solutions' in the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, based on two high tech clusters, Rousset - Gémenos and Sophia-Antipolis. The policy aims to provide the firms incentives to build network relations of heterogeneous actors to trigger innovative processes. The analysis of the collaborative R&D projects of the pole provides insights on the nature of the collective learning networks working in the clusters as well as the prevailing organizational forms resulting from the firms strategies. It show that knowledge spillovers are not simply "in the air" but very specific of the learning networks and clusters from which they belong. Clusters thus need to be analyzed jointly with networks in order to understand the processes underlying their innovation capacity. |
| Keywords: | Collective Learning Networks, Knowledge, Innovation, Clusters, Cluster Policy, Social Network Analysis |
| JEL: | L14 L38 O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-28&r=ino |
| By: | Sylvie Charlot; Riccardo Crescenzi; Antonio Musolesi |
| Abstract: | By adopting a semiparametric approach, the ‘traditional’ regional knowledge production function is developed in three complementary directions. First, the model is augmented with region-specific time trends to account for endogeneity due to selection on unobservables. Second, the nonparametric part of the model relaxes the standard assumptions of linearity and additivity regarding the effect of R&D and human capital. Finally, the assumption of homogeneity in the effects of R&D and human capital is also relaxed by explicitly accounting for the differences between developed and lagging regions. The analysis of the genesis of innovation in the regions of the European Union unveils nonlinearities, threshold effects, complex interactions and shadow |
| Keywords: | innovation; Europe; R&D; regional knowledge production function; semiparametric models; endogenous selection; random growth model |
| JEL: | C14 C23 O32 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60088&r=ino |
| By: | Vilsack, Tom; Reed, Cory; Fraley, Robert; Thatcher, Mary kay |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2015–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:206472&r=ino |
| By: | Patrick Gaule |
| Abstract: | I study how patents affect firm success (initial public offering or acquisition at a high price) in a sample of 2,191 U.S. startups applying for patent protection in the 24 months following their first round of venture capital funding. I observe both successful and unsuccessful patent applications and use a measure of patent exam- iner leniency as an instrument for getting patents. I find a positive effect of patents on firm success for life science firms but not for information technology firms. |
| Keywords: | patents; entrepreneurship; venture capital; patent examiners; acquisition; initial public offering; |
| JEL: | O34 G24 L26 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp546&r=ino |
| By: | Stadler, Manfred |
| Abstract: | We present a class of dynamic general-equilibrium models of education, innovation and technology transfer to explain the evolution of industries and aggregate growth in closed and open economies. Firms employ educated workers in order to develop higher-quality products. The realization of quality innovations becomes more difficult as the quality level increases but this deterioration of technological opportunities is compensated by an improvement of the researchers' capabilities. Innovation and human-capital accumulation appear as in-line engines of scale-invariant endogenous growth. Industries evolve according to stochastic processes of innovation, imitation and technology adaption in the global economy. |
| Keywords: | education,innovation,industrial dynamics,technology transfer,international trade,economic growth |
| JEL: | F43 O31 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:84&r=ino |
| By: | Claudio Fassio; Sona Kalantaryan; Alessandra Venturini |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of migrants in innovation in Europe. We use Total Factor Productivity as a measure of innovation and focus on the three largest European countries – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – in the years 1994-2007. Unlike previous research, which mainly employs a regional approach, we analyse the link between migration and innovation at the sectoral level. This allows us to measure the direct contribution of migrants in the sector in which they are actually employed. Moreover, it allows a distinction between the real contribution of migrants to innovation from possible inter-sectoral complementarities, which might as well foster innovation. We control for the different components of human-capital, such as age, education and diversity of origin. To address the possible endogeneity of migration we draw on an instrumental variable strategy originally devised by Card (2001) and adapt it at the sector level The results show that overall migrants are relevant in all sectors, but some important differences emerge across sectors: highly-educated migrants show a larger positive effect in the high-tech sectors, while middle- and low-educated ones are more relevant in manufacturing. The diversity of countries of origin contributes to innovation only in the services sectors, confirming that in empirical analyses at the regional or national level the diversity measure might capture the complementarity between sectors rather than the contribution of different national skills. This implies that the diversity should not guide the migration policy which instead should be linked to the specific demand for labour of firms and not to pursue a generic search for highly skilled migrants. |
| Keywords: | Migration, innovation, highly skilled migrants, low skilled migrants, Total Factor Productivity. |
| JEL: | F22 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/43&r=ino |
| By: | Benjamin Montmartin (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France); Marcos Herrera (CONICET - IELDE; National University of Salta, Argentina); Nadine Massard (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne; Jean Monnet University, Saint-Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | The French policy-mix for R&D and innovation has deeply evolved in recent years and is nowadays, one of the most generous and market-friendly system in the world. This paper investigates the (evolutive) effects of this policy-mix by using a unique database containing information on the amount of R&D tax credit, regional, national and European subsidies received by firms in all French metropolitan NUTS3 regions over the period 2001-2011. By estimating a Spatial Durbin model with regimes and fixed effects, we provide new evidence on the efficiency of the French policy-mix. First, a yardstick competition between NUTS3 regions for R&D investment driven by negative spatial spillovers is found. Second, it seems that national subsidies are the only instrument able to generate a significant leverage effect on privately-financed R&D. Third, due to the context of spatial competition, the three other policies studied (Tax Credit, Regional and European subsidies) do not generate significant leverage or crowding-out effect. Fourth, we highlight the presence of structural breaks in our data that correspond to the last two important reforms of the French tax credit. Consequently, the effect of R&D policies and especially R&D tax credit are likely to change over time and influence ex-post evaluation results. |
| Keywords: | Additionality, French policy-mix, Private R&D investment, Spatial panel |
| JEL: | H25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-26&r=ino |
| By: | Stuart Graham; Cheryl Grim; Tariqul Islam; Alan Marco; Javier Miranda |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the construction of a new longitudinal database tracking inventors and patent-owning firms over time. We match granted patents between 2000 and 2011 to administrative databases of firms and workers housed at the U.S. Census Bureau. We use inventor information in addition to the patent assignee firm name to and improve on previous efforts linking patents to firms. The triangulated database allows us to maximize match rates and provide validation for a large fraction of matches. In this paper, we describe the construction of the database and explore basic features of the data. We find patenting firms, particularly young patenting firms, disproportionally contribute jobs to the U.S. economy. We find patenting is a relatively rare event among small firms but that most patenting firms are nevertheless small, and that patenting is not as rare an event for the youngest firms compared to the oldest firms. While manufacturing firms are more likely to patent than firms in other sectors, we find most patenting firms are in the services and wholesale sectors. These new data are a product of collaboration within the U.S. Department of Commerce, between the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:15-19&r=ino |
| By: | Tomasz Brodzicki (University of Gdansk, Faculty of Economics; Institute for Development) |
| Abstract: | Several important studies find that innovation and exporting are inextricably linked at firm-level. Aw et al. (2011) find that the marginal benefit of simultaneous exporting and innovating increases with productivity, with self-selection effect typical for heterogeneous firm literature a la Melitz (2003) driving a large part of the observed complementarity. Altomonte et al. (2013) show that there is a positive, broad, strong and robust correlation between the extent of internationalization of firms and innovation activities in the panel of European manufacturing firms (EFIGE dataset). Apart form several recent studies the literature on the role of firm heterogeneity in Polish trade and the nexus with innovation performance is in its infancy. The goal of this article is to present some initial results of a large survey of Polish exporting and non-exporting firms conducted by the team of the Institute for Development aimed at filling this important gap. |
| Keywords: | internationalization, innovation activity, firms survey |
| JEL: | F12 F14 C83 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iro:wpaper:1504&r=ino |
| By: | Tödtling, Franz (Vienna University of Economics and Business); Trippl, Michaela (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This chapter provides a review and discussion of recent conceptual and empirical contributions on the nature and geography of firms’ knowledge acquisition activities. We offer a systematic conceptual view on the pattern on knowledge sourcing, bringing into focus and combining the notions of industrial knowledge bases (sectoral contexts), which are supposed to vary considerably with respect to the transferability of their key knowledge types and regional innovation systems (regional contexts), which are supposed to differ substantially in terms of the availability of knowledge sources. The empirical part of the chapter draws on cases from Austria, Finland, Germany and Sweden and provides an analysis and comparison of knowledge sourcing activities in analytical, synthetic and symbolic industrial sectors in metropolitan, specialised industrial and peripheral regional contexts. |
| Keywords: | knowledge sourcing activities; industrial knowledge bases; regional innovation systems |
| JEL: | D83 O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2015–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_025&r=ino |
| By: | Benjamin Montmartin (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France) |
| Abstract: | We propose a unique market and social planner solution for a generalized New Economic Geography and Growth model to highlight the importance of taking account of the existence of agglomeration externalities in an analysis of market inefficiencies, which allows us to provide some important implications for public policy. This framework among other things, allows us to disentangle an insufficient growth condition from an under-investment in R&D condition which in turn allows us to explain various market steady state situations. For instance, it provides an explanation for situations where the market economy grows too slowly and over-invest in R&D (as opposed to an a-spatial model). By evaluating the effects of two strategic policies, namely innovation policy and industrial policy, on market inefficiencies, we show that (1) the efficiency of a policy evolves strongly with the market economy situation and no policy is the most efficient in all situations, (2) the geography of economic activities and the question of over or underagglomeration of the market economy plays a central role on the relative efficiency of policies and (3) industrial and innovation policies are only partially complementary but policy-mixes can be justified if some market gaps are more important than others. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, growth, spatial income inequality, innovation and industrial policies |
| JEL: | F43 H50 R12 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-25&r=ino |
| By: | Fındık, Derya; Tansel, Aysit |
| Abstract: | This chapter analyzes the effect of intangible investment on firm efficiency with an emphasis on its software component. Stochastic production frontier approach is used to simultaneously estimate the production function and the determinants of technical efficiency in the software intensive manufacturing firms in Turkey for the period 2003-2007. Firms are classified based on the technology group. High technology and low technology firms are estimated separately in order to reveal differentials in their firm efficiency. The results show that the effect of software investment on firm efficiency is larger in high technology firms which operate in areas such as chemicals, electricity, and machinery as compared to that of the low technology firms which operate in areas such as textiles, food, paper, and unclassified manufacturing. Further, among the high technology firms, the effect of the software investment is smaller than the effect of research and development personnel expenditure. This result shows that the presence of R&D personnel is more important than the software investment for software intensive manufacturing firms in Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Intangible assets, Software investment, Efficiency, Software intensive firms, Stochastic frontier analysis, Production Function, Firms, Turkey. |
| JEL: | L21 L22 L23 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–08–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65955&r=ino |
| By: | Erin L. Scott (National University of Singapore Business School); Pian Shu (Harvard Business School, Technology and Operations Management Unit); Roman M. Lubynsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurs face high uncertainty, and often make costly investments in new business ideas without knowing the expected payoff. This paper empirically examines whether ex-ante assessment of early-stage startup ideas can predict their subsequent commercialization. We leverage an entrepreneurship program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which early-stage venture ideas, presented in the form of succinct standardized summaries, elicit subjective evaluations from a large set of experienced entrepreneurs and executives. Using data on 652 ventures in multiple industry sectors, evaluated over an 8-year period, we find that ideas that elicit more positive evaluations are significantly more likely to ultimately reach commercialization. We further show that these results are driven by venture ideas with documented intellectual capital in research-and-development-intensive sectors, such as life sciences and medical devices. We find no evidence, by contrast, that experts can effectively assess the commercial potential of venture ideas in non-R&D-intensive sectors such as consumer web and enterprise software. Finally, we find that industry-specific and scientific expertise is not critical to experts' collective ability to predict ventures' commercial viability. |
| JEL: | L26 M13 O31 J24 G32 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:16-013&r=ino |
| By: | Cougot, Dale |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2015–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao15:205015&r=ino |
| By: | Boeing, Philipp; Mueller, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | We develop an index that compares the quality of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications by considering citations generated by International Search Reports (ISRs). In its most restrictive variation, i.e. excluding citations from the home country and self-citations, the ISR index is not biased by selectivity in filing strategies, differences in citations due to varying national examination procedures, or domestic economic policies. Against the background of strong increases in Chinese patenting between 2001 and 2009, we compare the quality of Chinese PCT applications with those from high-income countries. Chinese PCT applications achieve only 34% of the quality level of international PCT applications. In addition, their quality is decreasing over time. We find that the patent quality of firms increases in R&D stocks but decreases with the introduction of PCT subsidies. Our results confirm that China's expansion of international filings was achieved to the detriment of quality. |
| Keywords: | patent quality,PCT system,China |
| JEL: | O34 O32 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:15051&r=ino |
| By: | Dorman, Peter; Nolte, Heike |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a different theory of the firm and demonstrates how it can be employed to yield hypotheses about differences in innovation and human resource strategy according to the shareholder/stakeholder and liberal/coordinated market dichotomies. The theory assumes that feasible production and demand sets are nonconvex due to interaction among activities; thus firms exist to permit the identification and exploitation of profit opportunities through coordinated action. This implies that firms face a nonconvex profit landscape comparable to the fitness landscapes invoked in evolutionary biology. Given the complexity of these landscapes and the uncertainty of the location of profit hills, there is a tradeoff between exploiting existing or adjacent hills and prospecting for more distant ones: the first minimizes risk, the second maximizes potential profit. A further assumption is then introduced, that shareholder firms seek to maximizes the present value of expected future profit streams, while stakeholder firms maximize the likelihood of achieving profitability over a given time horizon. Combining these theoretical priors, we characterize the likely innovation, organizational and human resource characteristics of the two types of firms and the effects exerted by their external environment, as described in the Varieties of Capitalism literature. These theoretical predictions are confirmed in a set of case studies of a stakeholder firm in liberal and coordinated environments and a shareholder firm in a coordinated environment. This is seen through differences in the role of worker problem-solving, which brings together innovation and learning, organizational structure and human resource strategy. |
| Keywords: | theory of the firm, profit, nonconvexity, varieties of capitalism, innovation, strategy, worker participation |
| JEL: | B52 D23 D89 J53 L21 M11 M16 O32 P11 P51 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:65981&r=ino |
| By: | Kroll, Henning |
| Abstract: | [Introduction] Over the course of the past two decades, China has evolved from a nation focused on production to a technologically dynamic one with the ambition to catch up with the world's leading economies by 2050 (Schwaag Serger and Breidne 2007; State Council (of the People's Republic of China) 2006). Since 2011, it has become the nation with largest annual patent output in the world (Reuters 2011). At the same time, however, China also remains a huge country in which substantive disparities continue to prevail (Kroll 2010; Liefner and Wei 2013). For a long time, talking about new technological trends and growing capacity in China was almost identical to talking about new devel-opments in Beijing, Guangdong, and Greater Shanghai. At the same time, this meant talking about two separate research systems, a public and an industrial one that were distinct, not only in terms of their legacy and internal logics (Motohashi 2008), but also in terms of their geographical representation (Kroll and Frietsch 2014; Kroll and Schiller 2010). As a result, meaningful knowledge transfer between these two systems only occurred in a limited number of 'islands of innovation', where regionally unique systems of co-operation had developed over the years (Kroll and Liefner 2008; Kroll and Schiller 2010). [...] |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisifr:r12015&r=ino |
| By: | Jeon, Doh-Shin; Lefouili, Yassine |
| Abstract: | We study bilateral cross-licensing agreements among N (> 2) competing firms. We find that the fully cooperative royalty, i.e., the one that allows them to achieve the monopoly profit, can be sustained as the outcome of bilaterally efficient agreements, regardless of whether the agreements are public or private and whether firms compete in quantities or prices. We extend this monopolization result to a general class of two-stage games in which firms bilaterally agree in the first stage to make each other payments that depend on their second-stage non-cooperative actions. Policy implications regarding the antitrust treatment of cross-licensing agreements are derived. |
| Keywords: | Cross-Licensing, Royalties, Collusion, Antitrust and Intellectual Property. |
| JEL: | D43 L13 L24 L41 O34 |
| Date: | 2015–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:29317&r=ino |
| By: | Yann Ménière (Cerna, MINES ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | The complexity of standards in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) creates a tension between the need to reward the owners of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) that may cover standard specifications and the need to make standards available to all for public use. In the last few years, this tension has crystallized into a difficult debate on licensing principles that must be Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND or FRAND licensing). The purpose of this report is to provide a balanced account of the current controversy relating to the FRAND licensing of standard essential patents and to explore future research topics in this area. It draws on the arguments that arose at an expert workshop held under Chatham House rules at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) and on an extensive review of the related literature. |
| Keywords: | standard essential patents, licensing, standards, standard setting organizations, fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory licensing terms, information and communication technologies |
| JEL: | F23 H41 L11 L15 L24 L96 L98 O31 O32 O33 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc96258&r=ino |
| By: | Philip Sauré (Swiss National Bank) |
| Abstract: | With its cost- and time-intensive research and development, the pharmaceutical sector can generate large trade imbalances. These imbalances may arise because investment and output occur in different years; they are sizable if pharmaceuticals account for a large and growing share of exports. Switzerland's recent trade surplus results from this effect, which also explains why the Swiss trade surplus is exceptionally resilient. The Swiss trade surplus is, therefore, a poor indicator for exchange rate assessments. |
| Keywords: | Trade imbalances, exchange rate elasticity, exchange rate assessment, R&D costs |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F41 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp15-11&r=ino |
| By: | David Atkin; Azam Chaudhry; Shamyla Chaudry; Amit K. Khandelwal; Eric Verhoogen |
| Abstract: | This paper studies technology adoption in a cluster of soccer-ball producers in Sialkot, Pakistan. We invented a new cutting technology that reduces waste of the primary raw material and gave the technology to a random subset of producers. Despite the arguably unambiguous net benefits of the technology for nearly all firms, after 15 months take-up remained puzzlingly low. We hypothesize that an important reason for the lack of adoption is a misalignment of incentives within firms: the key employees (cutters and printers) are typically paid piece rates, with no incentive to reduce waste, and the new technology slows them down, at least initially. Fearing reductions in their effective wage, employees resist adoption in various ways, including by misinforming owners about the value of the technology. To investigate this hypothesis, we implemented a second experiment among the firms that originally received the technology: we offered one cutter and one printer per firm a lump-sum payment, approximately equal to a monthly wage, conditional on them demonstrating competence in using the technology in the presence of the owner. This incentive payment, small from the point of view of the firm, had a significant positive effect on adoption. We interpret the results as supportive of the hypothesis that misalignment of incentives within firms is an important barrier to technology adoption in our setting. |
| JEL: | D2 L2 O1 O3 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21417&r=ino |
| By: | Raphael Boleslavsky (University of Miami); Christopher Cotton (Queen's University); Haresh Gurnani (Wake Forest University) |
| Abstract: | We incorporate product demonstrations into a game theoretic model of firm price competition. Demonstrations may include product samples, trials, return policies, reviews, or any other means by which a firm allows consumers to learn about their value for a new product. In our model, demonstrations help individual consumers learn whether they prefer an innovation over an established product. The innovative firm controls demonstration informativeness. When prices can respond to demonstration policies, the firm prefers to provide maximumly informative demonstrations, which optimally segment the market, dampen subsequent price competition, and maximize profits. In contrast, when prices are less flexible, the firm prefers only partially informative demonstrations, designed to maximize its market share at prevailing prices. Such a strategy can generate the monopoly profit for the innovative firm. We contrast the strategic role of demonstrations in our framework with the strategic role of capacity limits in models of judo economics (e.g. Gelman and Salop 1983), which also allow firms to divide a market and reduce competition. |
| Keywords: | judo economics, demonstrations, product trials, product samples, return policies, money back guarantees, marketing strategy, product differentiation |
| JEL: | L13 L15 D83 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1347&r=ino |
| By: | Dahm, Laura K.; Sorhage, Christoph |
| Abstract: | Mutual fund investors are supposed to make long-term investments instead of striving for quick fortunes. However, the dynamics of funds' ability to generate abnormal returns over their lifetime is still an unattended issue. This paper provides evidence on the liability of newness and liability of aging theory that funds' investment skill changes to the positive or negative over time. Our results find strong support for an underperformance of mature funds consistent with the liability of aging theory. Furthermore, the observed diseconomies of life result from older funds pursuing less innovative investment strategies. The lack of innovation manifests in less performance enhancing trading and fewer investments in hard-to-value stocks. Still, we provide evidence that less performance sensitive as well as non-institutional investors seek investments in mature funds and that they benefit from more stable investment styles and performance outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Mutual funds,Fund age,Innovation,Liability of aging,Fund performance,Fund behavior |
| JEL: | D22 D23 D92 G11 G23 L25 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfrwps:1505&r=ino |
| By: | Jiaying Gu (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Roger Koenker (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Illinois) |
| Abstract: | Empirical Bayes methods for Gaussian compound decision problems involving longitudinal data are considered. The new convex optimization formulation of the nonparametric (Kiefer-Wolfowitz) maximum likelihood estimator for mixture models is employed to construct nonparametric Bayes rules for compound decisions. The methods are first illustrated with some simulation examples and then with an application to models of income dynamics. Using PSID data we estimate a simple dynamic model of earnings that incorporates bivariate heterogeneity in intercept and variance of the innovation process. Profile likelihood is employed to estimate an AR(1) parameter controlling the persistence of the innovations. We find that persistence is relatively modest, ?˜ 0.48, when we permit heterogeneity in variances. Evidence of negative dependence between individual intercepts and variances is revealed by the nonparametric estimation of the mixing distribution, and has important consequences for forecasting future income trajectories. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:43/14&r=ino |
| By: | Bobtcheff, Catherine; Levy, Raphaël |
| Abstract: | We consider a real option model in which a cash-constrained entrepreneur learns prior to investing, but at a speed which is private information. The entrepreneur seeks outside funding, and uses the timing of his investment to signal his confidence in the venture, and accordingly obtain cheaper credit. In the benchmark case with no informational friction, we show that the optimal investment date may be nonmonotonic or decreasing in the learning speed, depending on the prior NPV of the project: better learning increases the value of the option to wait, but also increases the speed of updating. In the presence of asymmetric information, the cash constraint may result in distortions in investment timing, and the inefficiency is higher the more stringent the cash shortage. Inefficient investment policy may take both the form of hurried investment (as compared to the benchmark), when both entrepreneur types learn suficiently fast, and of delayed investment, when the slow-learning type does not learn fast enough. Therefore, the severity of the cash constraint affects the magnitude of the timing distortion, but not its direction. |
| Keywords: | Signaling, investment timing, financing of innovation, real options. |
| Date: | 2015–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:29283&r=ino |
| By: | Kempa, Karol; Moslener, Ulf |
| Abstract: | Across the globe climate policy is shifting away from a carbon price towards investment subsidies, such as grants, interest-subsidised loans or guarantees. This increases the risk of inefficient public spending. This paper shows how the main market imperfections related to the emission externality, knowledge spillovers and capital market imperfections negatively affect the risk-return-profile of a climate investment. To some extent these negative impacts can be compensated through different forms of investment subsidies. Minimising the risk of inefficient public spending is, however, challenging and requires detailed understanding of technologies and markets at the project level. The analysis provides guidance for the design of appropriate investment subsidy schemes. Carbon prices and investment subsidies are not perfect substitutes, and - at least for developed economies - a carbon price remains the single most efficient instrument. This price should, however, coexist with other instruments, e.g. investment support schemes, which can be tailored to address the non-emission market imperfections related to climate change. |
| Keywords: | climate finance,investment support,policy instruments,environmental externality,innovation spillover,capital market failure |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fsfmwp:219&r=ino |
| By: | Sari Pekkala Kerr (Wellesley College); William R. Kerr (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit); Ramana Nanda (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit) |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between house prices and entrepreneurship using micro data from the US Census Bureau. Increases in house prices are often thought to drive entrepreneurship through unlocking the collateral channel for bank loans, but this interpretation is challenged by worries regarding omitted variable biases (e.g., rising local demand) or wealth effects (i.e., that people with more valuable homes are more likely to enter entrepreneurship for reasons other than access to collateral). We construct an empirical environment that utilizes very localized price changes, exploits variations in initial home values across residents in the same zip code, and embeds multiple comparisons (e.g., owners vs. renters, homestead exemption laws by state). For the United States during the 2000-2004 period, the link of home prices to the rate of entrepreneurship through home equity channels is modest in economic magnitude. This is despite a focus on a time period that experienced the largest concentration of US home price growth over the last two decades. Even when we do connect home equity to entrepreneurship, part of the effect is linked to an increased demand for entrepreneurship. While housing collateral plays a role in the entry that we observe, it does not seem to be a major barrier to entrepreneurship in our context. |
| Keywords: | house prices, mortgages, collateral channel, entrepreneurship, entry |
| JEL: | E44 G21 L26 M13 R12 R31 R32 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:15-069&r=ino |
| By: | Panagiotis Delimatsis |
| Abstract: | Continuous innovation and a growing consumer demand for better and safer products has led to an increase of transnational technical standard-setting in recent years. The World Trade Organization (WTO) exercises a high level of deference towards international standards, requiring their use. However, practice shows that several international standards are adopted through opaque and exclusionary processes. In line with this observation, in its recent US – Tuna II ruling, the Appellate Body adopted a more critical approach regarding international standards and the processes that lead to their adoption. Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on an analysis of the properties and mechanics of international standard-setting processes within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), discussing procedural and substantive guarantees regarding transparency, openness, deliberation and participation. As the WTO becomes the de facto arbiter of the legitimacy of international standards, much-needed institutional reform in international standard-setting is bound to occur, in line with emerging demands for a more inclusive global legal order. |
| Keywords: | International Organization for Standardization (ISO), due process, standard-setting processes, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, TBT Committee Decision on development of international standards |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2015/35&r=ino |
| By: | Schmutzler, Jana; Andonova, Veneta; Díaz Serrano, Lluís |
| Abstract: | The correlation between facets of national culture and startup activities has received confirmation in empirical research while many mechanisms behind the correlation remain unclear. We study the interplay between the individualism-collectivism orientation of national culture, the incidence of entrepreneurial role models and selfefficacy understood as the perception of possessing relevant skills and knowledge to become a successful entrepreneur. We find that exposure to entrepreneurial role models offsets self-efficacy as a driver of entrepreneurial intentions. The effect is magnified by the individualistic character of the national culture. Key words: entrepreneurial intentions, role models, self-efficacy, individualism, multilevel regressions |
| Keywords: | Emprenedoria, Autopercepció, Cultura, 33 - Economia, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/247806&r=ino |
| By: | Lafortune, Jeanne (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile); Tessada, José (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile); Lewis, Ethan Gatewood (Dartmouth College) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the elasticity of substitution between capital and skill using variation across U.S. counties in immigration-induced skill-mix changes between 1860 and 1930. We find that capital began as a q-complement for skilled and unskilled workers, and then dramatically increased its relative complementary with skilled workers around 1890. Simulations of a parametric production function calibrated to our estimates imply the level of capital-skill complementarity after 1890 likely allowed the U.S. economy to absorb the large wave of less-skilled immigration with a modest decline in less-skilled relative wages. This would not have been possible under the older production technology. |
| Keywords: | immigration, capital-skill complementarity, skill-biased technical change, manufacturing, Second Industrial Revolution |
| JEL: | J24 N61 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9217&r=ino |
| By: | Papageorgiou,Chris; Spatafora,Nikola L.; Wang,Ke |
| Abstract: | Economic development critically involves diversification and structural transformation?that is, the continued, dynamic reallocation of resources from less productive to more productive sectors and activities. This paper documents that, over an extended period, developing Asia has on average been particularly successful in diversifying its exports, particularly in comparison with Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the progress has occurred through diversification along the ?extensive margin,? that is, through entry into completely new products. In addition, developing Asia has on average benefited significantly from quality upgrading, helping it capitalize on already existing comparative advantages. Yet, agricultural and natural resources tend to have lower potential for quality upgrading than manufactures. Therefore, for lower-income ?frontier? countries, diversification into products with longer ?quality ladders? may be a necessary first step before large gains from quality improvement can be reaped. |
| Keywords: | Pro-Poor Growth,Agribusiness&Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies |
| Date: | 2015–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7380&r=ino |
| By: | Pakura, Stefanie |
| Abstract: | Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Einfluss der unternehmerischen Motivation auf die Wiedergründungsbereitschaft unter Berücksichtigung des Effekts des Unternehmensalters. Die Wiedergründungsbereitschaft impliziert dabei eine zusammenfassende Bewertung der nachhaltigen Zufriedenheit des Gründers mit der Selbstständigkeit. Unter Verwendung eines großzahligen Datensatzes von 1.332 Neugründungen in Deutschland werden unternehmer-ische Motivation und unterschiedliche Motivationstypen im Zeitverlauf betrachtet und deren Auswirkungen auf die Bereitschaft von Existenzgründern, erneut zu gründen, untersucht. Die Ergebnisse liefern erste detaillierte empirische Evidenzen dafür, dass der Einfluss unternehmerischer Motivation auf die Wiedergründungsbereitschaft im Zeitverlauf variiert. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass der Einfluss intrinsischer Motivationsfaktoren auf die Wiedergründungsbereitschaft in der Start- und Gründungsphase am stärksten ist, aber im Laufe der Unternehmensentwicklung immer mehr nachlässt. Im Laufe der Nachgründungsphase hat intrinsische Motivation durchgängig geringeren Einfluss auf die Wiedergründungsbereitschaft als extrinsische Motivation. Extrinsische Motivation erweist sich nach Gründung über die ganze Frühentwicklungszeit durchgehend als wichtigste Größe für die nachhaltige Zufriedenheit. Die empirische Analyse wendet Logitmodelle an, ergänzende Probit- und Relogit-Modelle bestätigen die Robustheit der Schätzergebnisse. Für detailliertere Analysen werden marginale Effekte und prognostizierte Wahrscheinlichkeiten im Zeitverlauf der Frühentwicklung berechnet. |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the impact of entrepreneurial motivation on the entrepreneurs' willingness to start the same business again by taking into account the effect of the start-ups' age. The willingness to start the same business again thereby implies the entrepreneur's overall satisfaction with his or her self-employment. Using a large sample of 1,332 start-ups in Germany, the study analyzes entrepreneurial motivation and different kinds of motivation over time in the context of the start-up's early development and investigates their effects upon the entrepreneurs' willingness to re-establish. The findings provide detailed empirical evidence that the impact of entrepreneurial motivation on the entrepreneurs' willingness to redo it varies over time. It can be shown that the influence of intrinsic motivators is the strongest in the starting-up stage, but declines with time during the venture's development. Furthermore, the study finds that intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation has a less strong impact on the willingness to re-establish once the new venture is launched. After launching extrinsic motives show both a higher and key influence on the entrepreneurs' willingness to start the same business again for the entire early development period of the start-up. Results were calculated using logit models. Complementary probit- and relogit models confirm the robustness of the estimation results. Besides logit coefficients, marginal effects and predicted probabilities over the time of the new venture development are used for a more detailed analysis. |
| Keywords: | Junge Unternehmen,Neugründung,Wiedergründungsbereitschaft,Motivation,Zufriedenheit,Unternehmensfrühentwicklung,new ventures,start-up,willingness of re-establishing, motivation,satisfaction,new venture early development |
| JEL: | L26 M13 L26 C51 D22 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:luebgf:10&r=ino |
| By: | Gonçalo Brás (Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal); Elias Soukiazis |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of a variety of factors (economic, institutional, competitiveness, formal and informal) on the entrepreneurial activity of nations, given by the Total Entrepreneurial Activity rate (TEA). A panel data approach of 26 developed countries is used to evaluate the simultaneous influence of the referred factors on TEA over the period 2004-2011. Aiming to include a wide range of variables imposed by the multidisciplinary entrepreneurship concept, the stepwise regression approach is applied with backward elimination of insignificant variables. Our findings show an inverse relationship between TEA and the initial capital effort; a direct relation between TEA, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial market development and education; and a non-linear concave relationship between TEA and the GDP per capita. However, the most significant impacts on TEA come from factors related to education level and the financial market conditions. The dynamic estimation approach shows a quite high speed of adjustment between the actual and desired rate of entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), Opportunity or necessity driven Entrepreneurship, Determinants of Entrepreneurship, Panel data. |
| JEL: | L26 M13 C31 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2015-14.&r=ino |
| By: | Sarah Baird; Joan Hamory Hicks; Michael Kremer; Edward Miguel |
| Abstract: | This study estimates long-run impacts of a child health investment, exploiting community-wide experimental variation in school-based deworming. The program increased education among women and labor supply among men, with accompanying shifts in labor market specialization. Ten years after deworming treatment, women who were eligible as girls are 25% more likely to have attended secondary school, halving the gender gap. They reallocate time from traditional agriculture into cash crops and entrepreneurship. Men who were eligible as boys stay enrolled for more years of primary school, work 17% more hours each week, spend more time in entrepreneurship, are more likely to hold manufacturing jobs, and miss one fewer meal per week. We estimate an annualized financial internal rate of return of at least 32.2%. |
| JEL: | I00 I10 I20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21428&r=ino |
| By: | Lorenz, Steffi |
| Abstract: | Der vorliegende Beitrag liefert einen neuartigen, konzeptionellen und empirischen Bezugsrahmen für die projektbasierte Erfassung der Diversität und Verbundenheit der technologischen Wissensbasis von Unternehmen. Traditionell wird zur Erfassung der Wissensbasis in der einschlägigen Managementliteratur auf Patentdaten zurückgegriffen. Patentbasierte Indikatoren weisen in diesem Forschungskontext allerdings wesentliche Schwächen auf. Der vorliegende Beitrag knüpft an den Problematiken patentbasierter Indikatoren an. Ausgehend von konzeptionellen Überlegungen zur möglichst unmittelbaren und mehrdimensionalen Erfassung der Wissensbasis von Unternehmen erfolgt die Entwicklung neuartiger Indikatoren, die in einem direkten Zusammenhang zum dynamisch geprägten Wissensgenerationsprozess stehen. Hierfür wird auf umfassende Innovationsprojektdaten aus der Pharmaindustrie zurückgegriffen. Eingang in die empirische Analyse findet das Innovationsprojektportfolio von insgesamt 2.389 Pharmaakteuren. Eine Korrelationsanalyse überprüft den wissenschaftlichen Aussagegehalt projektbasierter Diversitäts- und Verbundenheitsindikatoren als neuartigen Ansatz zur Quantifizierung der organisationalen Wissensbasis. |
| Keywords: | Kohärenz,Verbundenheit,Diversifikation,Diversität,Wissensbasis,technologisches Wissen,Pharmaindustrie |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:martim:1501&r=ino |
| By: | Michael, Bryane; Zhao,Simon; Wojcik, Dariusz |
| Abstract: | How can international financial centres like Hong Kong increase assets under management – and thus their size and ranking? Most policymakers and their advisors wrongly answer this question by focusing on financial institutions, and the law that governs them. Instead, policymakers need to start by looking at actual markets. What new tastes and technologies need funding? How can such funding fit into already existing geographies of production, distribution and finance? In this paper, we show how a focus on funding sunrise industries can help increase assets under management for the financial institutions operating in an international financial centre like Hong Kong. We show – using the specific example the photovoltaic (solar power) sector – how changes in financial law need to be contingent on market needs. We specifically show how legal changes which promote the securitisation of solar assets (and the sale of these securities) can help increase Hong Kong’s financial institutions’ assets under management. By using this specific case, we hope to provide insight into the broader question of how technological change, geography, and financial law interact. |
| Keywords: | solar finance,securitization |
| JEL: | K22 G18 |
| Date: | 2015–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:112700&r=ino |