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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2016‒12‒04
three papers chosen by Laura Ştefănescu Centrul European de Studii Manageriale în Administrarea Afacerilor |
| By: | Salome Baslandze (Einaudi Institute for Economics and Fina) |
| Abstract: | What is the impact of information and communications technologies (ICT) on aggregate productivity growth and sectoral reallocation? In this paper, I analyze the impact of ICT through facilitating knowledge diffusion in the economy. There are two opposing effects. The increased flow of ideas between firms improves learning opportunities and spurs innovation. However, knowledge diffusion through ICT also results in broader accessibility of knowledge by competitors harming innovation incentives. The nature of the tradeoff between these opposing forces depends on an industry's technological characteristics, which I call external knowledge dependence. Industries whose innovations rely more on external knowledge benefit greatly from knowledge externalities and expand, while more self-contained industries are more affected by intensified competition and shrink. This results in the reallocation of innovation and production activities toward more externally-focused, "knowledge-hungry" industries. I develop a general equilibrium endogenous growth model featuring this mechanism. Using NBER patent and citations data together with BEA industry-level data on ICT, I empirically validate the mechanism of the paper. Quantitative analysis from the calibrated model illustrates that it is important to account for both technological heterogeneity and the knowledge-diffusion role of ICT to explain U.S. trends in productivity growth and sectoral reallocation in recent decades. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1509&r=knm |
| By: | Akcigit, Ufuk; Kerr, William R. |
| Abstract: | We build a tractable growth model where multi-product incumbents invest in internal innovations to improve their existing products, while new entrants and incumbents invest in external innovations to acquire new product lines. External and internal innovations generate heterogeneous innovation qualities, and firm size affects innovation incentives. This framework allows us to analyze how different types of innovation contribute to economic growth and how the firm size distribution can have important consequences for the types of innovations realized. Our model aligns with many observed empirical regularities, and we quantify our framework by matching Census Bureau operating data with patent data for U.S. firms. We observe that internal innovation scales moderately faster with firm size than external innovation. |
| Keywords: | Citations; Endogenous Growth; Entrepreneurs.; External; innovation; Internal; patents; Research and Development; Scientists |
| JEL: | L16 O31 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11660&r=knm |
| By: | Stephan Kampelmann; Benoît Mahy; François Rycx; Guillaume Vermeylen |
| Abstract: | We provide first evidence regarding the direct effect of educational norms and educational mismatch on the bottom line of firms across work environments. To do so, we use rich Belgian linked employer-employee panel data, rely on the methodological approach pioneered by Hellerstein et al. (1999), and estimate dynamic panel data models at the firm level. Our findings show an ‘inverted L’ profitability profile: undereducation is associated with lower profits, whereas higher levels of normal and overeducation are correlated with positive economic rents of roughly the same magnitude. The size of these effects is amplified in firms experiencing economic uncertainty or operating in high-tech sectors. |
| Keywords: | Educational mismatch; productivity-wage gaps; linked panel data |
| JEL: | J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/240798&r=knm |