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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2006‒11‒04
nine papers chosen by Emanuele Canegrati Catholic University of the Sacred Heart |
| By: | Stefano Breschi (CESPRI-Bocconi University, Milan, Italy); Francesco Lissoni (Brescia University and CESPRI-Bocconi University, Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we exploit new data on US inventors in Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotechnology to revisit the JTH test of the localization of knowledge spillovers (Jaffe, Trajtenberg, and Henderson; 1993). We find that inventors who patent across different companies contribute extensively to the observed citation patterns, both directly (through personal self-citations) and indirectly, by linking the various companies via a social network conducive to more citations. To the extent that the geographical mobility of these “cross-firm” inventors is quite limited, the resulting social networks and citations patterns are found to be bounded in space. We conclude that spatial distance, as measured in the JTH experiment, is just a proxy for a much more important variable, such as social distance between inventors. In a similar vein, we show that technological distance, introduced by Thompson and Fox-Kean (2005) to question the soundness of the JTH experiment, is also a proxy of social distance. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge diffusion, Localized spillovers, Social networks |
| JEL: | O33 R12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp184&r=knm |
| By: | Steffen Huck; Philippe Jehiel; Tom Rutter |
| Date: | 2006–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levrem:321307000000000541&r=knm |
| By: | Herings P. Jean-Jacques; Peeters Ronald (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a complete survey of the use of homotopy methods in game theory.Homotopies allow for a robust computation of game-theoretic equilibria and their refinements. Homotopies are also suitable to compute equilibria that are selected by variousselection theories. We present all relevant techniques underlying homotopy algorithms.We give detailed expositions of the Lemke-Howson algorithm and the Van den Elzen-Talman algorithm to compute Nash equilibria in 2-person games, and the Herings-Vanden Elzen, Herings-Peeters, and McKelvey-Palfrey algorithms to compute Nash equilibriain general n-person games. |
| Keywords: | operations research and management science; |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2006045&r=knm |
| By: | Lagerlöf, Johan N.M. |
| Abstract: | I develop a model of rent seeking with informational foundations and an arbitrary number of rent seekers, and I compare the results with Tullock's (1980) classic model where the influence activities are "black-boxed." Given the microfoundations, the welfare consequences of rent seeking can be studied. In particular, I show that competition among rent seekers can be socially beneficial, since the additional information that the decision maker gets access to makes the increase in rent-seeking expenditures worthwhile. However, the analysis also highlights a logic that, under natural parameter assumptions, makes the rent seekers spend more resources on rent seeking than is in society's interest, which is consistent with the spirit of the rent-seeking literature. |
| Keywords: | competition; disclosure; information acquisition; rent seeking; welfare |
| JEL: | D42 D43 D72 D83 L13 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5893&r=knm |
| By: | Arnold, Jens Matthias; Mattoo, Aaditya; Narciso, Gaia |
| Abstract: | The authors investigate the relationship between the productivity of African manufacturing firms and their access to services inputs. They use data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for over 1,000 firms in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries to calculate the total factor productivity of firms. The Enterprise Surveys also contain unique measures of firms ' access to communications, electricity, and financial services. The availability of these measures at the firm level, both as subjective and objective indicators, allows the authors to exploit the variation in services performance at the subnational regional level. Furthermore, by using the regional variation in services performance, they are also able to address concerns about the possible endogeneity of the services variables. The results show a significant and positive relationship between firm productivity and service performance in all three services sectors analyzed. The authors thus provide support for the argument that improvements in services industries contribute to enhancing the performance of downstream economic activities, and thus are an essential element of a strategy for promoting growth and reducing poverty. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory & Research,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Rural Communications,Commodities,Urban Economics |
| Date: | 2006–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4048&r=knm |
| By: | Camilla Lenzi (CESPRI-Bocconi University, Milano,Italy.) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge transfer issues are of great interest in researchers and policy makers agenda because of its implications in terms of innovation diffusion and economic welfare. Among the others, workers’ mobility, namely highly skilled ones, is considered as one of the most influential channels for knowledge transmission. This paper examines the patterns of mobility of a group of Italian inventors in the pharmaceutical sector. New empirical evidence is discussed and results of the analysis support the idea that workers’ mobility is an important mechanism of valuable knowledge diffusion. Moreover, the paper critically discusses methodological issues concerning measures of inventors’ mobility through patent statistics. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge transfer, Mobility, Inventor, Productivity. |
| JEL: | J60 O30 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp182&r=knm |
| By: | Yaakov Kareev; Judith Avrahami |
| Date: | 2006–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levrem:321307000000000521&r=knm |
| By: | John D. Burger (Department of Economics, Loyola College in Maryland); Stephen J.K. Walters (Department of Economics, Loyola College in Maryland) |
| Abstract: | In a 1980 article in this journal, Cassing and Douglas provided widely-cited field evidence for the existence of a Winner’s Curse in the baseball labor market. This study takes advantage of recent developments in the measurement and valuation of individual output in this market to, first, reassess their finding of considerable overbidding for baseball free agents during the late 1970s. We find no evidence of negative average returns to teams on player contracts in these early years of free agency, though we do find evidence that teams had difficulty efficiently adjusting their bids in accord with available information, especially about risk. Next, we examine winning bids in a more recent and larger sample of players to test whether such systematic errors have persisted over time. The evidence indicates that teams continue to overvalue inconsistent (risky) free agents and are unable to limit their bids to conform to players’ lower values in small markets, though on average returns to winning bidders are non-negative. This is consistent with experimental evidence that finds bounded-rational behavior when bidders are faced with complex valuation problems involving multiple elements. |
| Keywords: | market efficiency, bounded rationality, overbidding |
| JEL: | D44 D81 J41 C93 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0625&r=knm |
| By: | Rachel Levy; Pascale Roux; Sandrine Wolff |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the modalities according to which a large European university collaborates with firms by exploring its relational portfolio. We address this issue by exploiting a database listing more than 1000 firms having collaborated with the University Louis Pasteur between 1990 and 2002. First, using multi-correspondence analysis, we derive a four-classes typology of collaborative behaviours, each of them presenting a strong internal coherence. We obtain four distinct collaboration patterms, for which the frequency of interactions and the exclusive vs. open character of the relationships are discriminating features. Second, using a multinomial logit estimation, we show how this diversity is connected to some individual attributes of the firms: size, legal status, industrial sector and geographic distance from the public partner. |
| Keywords: | Science-industry collaborations; Typology; Industrial collaboration patterns. |
| JEL: | L21 L31 O32 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2006-27&r=knm |