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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2007‒09‒30
eight papers chosen by Emanuele Canegrati Catholic University of the Sacred Heart |
| By: | Piergiuseppe Morone; Carmelo Petraglia; Giuseppina Testa (School of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics, Birkbeck) |
| Abstract: | In order to assess the relationship between internal and external innovative inputs and innovative output at firm level, a knowledge production function is estimated for a representative sample of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1998-2003. To account for endogeneity of R&D effort in the knowledge production function, we estimate a Heckman selection model on R&D decisions. Results support the view that R&D intensity is positively linked to firm size, age and human capital endowment as well as to higher exposure to international competitive pressure. Then, the knowledge production function is estimated using a standard probit, where the probability to innovate of each firm depends upon intramural R&D effort, regional and industrial spillovers and on a vector of interaction and control variables. Our measures of external knowledge, which circulates and potentially transfers across firms belonging to the same geographical or industrial spaces, are based on predicted values for R&D effort in the region and industry respectively. Our results suggest a positive relationship between sectoral spillovers and innovation; knowledge diffusion in the regional space positively impacts on the probability to innovate of the recipient firm only if the latter has an appropriate endowment of human capital. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, knowledge, spillovers |
| JEL: | O3 L6 C25 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbk:bbkefp:0713&r=knm |
| By: | Griffith, Rachel; Lee, Sokbae; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | We examine the 'home bias' of international knowledge spillovers as measured by the speed of patent citations (i.e. knowledge spreads slowly over international boundaries). We present the first compelling econometric evidence that the geographical localization of knowledge spillovers has fallen over time, as we would expect from the dramatic fall in communication and travel costs. Our proposed estimator controls for correlated fixed effects and censoring in duration models and we apply it to data on over two million citations between 1975 and 1999. Home bias declines substantially when we control for fixed effects: there is practically no home bias for the more 'modern' sectors such as pharmaceuticals and information/communication technologies. |
| Keywords: | fixed effects; home bias; knowledge spillovers; patent citations |
| JEL: | F23 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6435&r=knm |
| By: | Jordi Blanes i Vidal; Clare Leaver |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data on judicial citations to explore whether the diffusion and/or application of knowledge within an organisation is affected by worker connectivity. Developing a simple model of discretionary citations, we distinguish between two hypotheses: knowledge diffusion whereby connected judges are more likely to be aware of each others` cases than unconnected judges, and socialisation whereby judges are more likely to be positively disposed to judges to whom they are more connected. Our empirical strategy exploits three important institutional features: (a) the random allocation of judges to case committees in the English Court of Appeal, (b) the existence of both positive and neutral citations and (c) the fact that connections occur over time. We are able to reject the knowledge diffusion hypothesis in its simplest form. We are unable to reject the socialisation hypothesis, and find strong evidence to support it. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for other knowledge-based organisations. |
| Keywords: | Networks, Public Sector Organizations, Judicial Citations |
| JEL: | H1 K4 Z13 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:354&r=knm |
| By: | Kenneth I. Carlaw (University of British Columbia - Okanagan); Richard G. Lipsey (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | The model incorporates characteristics of general purpose technologies established empirically but not currently modeled: GPTs occur simultaneously in several technology "classes," such as ICTs and materials; different "versions" of each class often compete with each other; GPTs of different classes complement each other; uncertainty is associated with GPT development and diffusion. The model's three sectors produce consumption goods using applied knowledge, applied knowledge using GPTs, and pure knowledge that occasionally discovers a new GPT whose efficiency increases as it diffuses. The model allows for competition between, and complementarities among GPTs, replicates accepted growth facts and is useful for policy analysis. |
| Keywords: | General purpose technologies (GPTs), diffusion, efficiency, growth, R&D. |
| JEL: | O41 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp07-17&r=knm |
| By: | Zezza, Alberto; Davis, Benjamin; Carletto, Gero; Miluka, Juna |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of international migration on technical efficiency, resource allocation and income from agricultural production of family farming in Albania. The results suggest that migration is used by rural households as a pathway out of agriculture: migration is negatively associated with the allocation of both labor and non-labor inputs in agriculture, while no significant differences can be detected in terms of farm technical efficiency or agricultural income. Whether the rapid demographic changes in rural areas triggered by massive migration, possibly combined with propitious land and rural development policies, will ultimately produce the conditions for more viable, high-return agriculture attracting larger investments remains to be seen. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Access to Finance,Agricultural Knowledge & Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems,Economic Theory & Research |
| Date: | 2007–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4367&r=knm |
| By: | Jakub, GROWIEC (Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw -Poland and CORE, UniversitŽ catholique de Louvain - Belgium); Ingmar, SCHUMACHER (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)) |
| Abstract: | We derive an R&D-based semi-endogenous growth model where technological progress depends on the available amount of technological opportunity. Incremental innovations provide direct increases in the knowledge stock but they reduce technological opportunity and thus the potential for further improvements. Technological opportunity can be renewed only by radical innovations (which have no direct impact on factor productivity). Investigating the model for its implications on economic growth leads to two basic observations. One, in the long-run, a balanced growth path with a consstant and semi-endogenous long-run economic growth rate exists only in a specific knife-edge case which implies that technological opportunity and knowledge grow at equal rates. Two, the transition need not be monotonic. Specifically, we show under which conditions our model generates endogenous business cylces via complex dynamics without uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Technological opportunity, incremental innovation, radical innovation, endogenous busuness cycles, balanced growth, Andronov-Hopf bifurcation, complex dynamics |
| JEL: | E32 O30 O41 |
| Date: | 2007–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007034&r=knm |
| By: | Gautam, Madhur; Dercon, Stefan; Ali, Daniel Ayalew |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence from one of the poorest countries of the world that the property rights matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made legal, but transfer rights remain restricted and the perception of continuing tenure insecurity remains quite strong. Using a unique panel data set, this study investigates whether transfer rights and tenure insecurity affect household investment decisions, focusing on trees and shrubs. The panel data estimates suggest that limited perceived transfer rights, and the threat of expropriation, negatively affect long-term investment in Ethiopian agriculture, contributing to the low returns from land and perpetuating low growth and poverty. |
| Keywords: | Common Property Resource Development,Forestry,Municipal Housing and Land,Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems,Urban Housing |
| Date: | 2007–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4363&r=knm |
| By: | Chris Edmond |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ste:nystbu:07-25&r=knm |