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on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
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Issue of 2022‒11‒07
five papers chosen by Laura Nicola-Gavrila Centrul European de Studii Manageriale în Administrarea Afacerilor |
| By: | Xiang Ding; Teresa C. Fort; Stephen J. Redding; Peter K. Schott |
| Abstract: | We document the role of intangible capital in manufacturing firms' substantial contribution to non-manufacturing employment growth from 1977-2019. Exploiting data on firms' "auxiliary" establishments, we develop a novel measure of proprietary in-house knowledge and show that it is associated with increased growth and industry switching. We rationalize this reallocation in a model where firms combine physical and knowledge inputs as complements, and where producing the latter in-house confers a sector-neutral productivity advantage facilitating within-firm structural transformation. Consistent with the model, manufacturing firms with auxiliary employment pivot towards services in response to a plausibly exogenous decline in their physical input prices. |
| Keywords: | structural transformation, professional services, intangible knowledge, economic growth |
| Date: | 2022–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1852&r= |
| By: | Jeremiah Dittmar; Ralph R. Meisenzahl |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of universities in knowledge production and industrial change using historical evidence. Political shocks led to a profound pro-science shift in German universities around 1800. To study the consequences, we construct novel microdata. We find that invention and manufacturing developed similarly in cities closer to and farther from universities in the 1700s and shifted towards universities and accelerated in the early 1800s. The shift in manufacturing was strongest in new and high knowledge industries. After 1800, the adoption of mechanized technology and the number and share of firms winning international awards for innovation were higher near universities. |
| Keywords: | industrialization, invention, universities, cities |
| Date: | 2022–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1856&r= |
| By: | Gasmi, Farid; Kouakou, Dorgyles; Sanni, Maruf |
| Abstract: | At the turn of the millennium, developing countries face a twofold societal challenge. First, these countries need to understand the deep principles underpinning informality, which is by now recognized as a structuring phenomenon of their economies. Second, for reasons related to both intra- and inter-generational justice, these countries need to follow the sustainable development pathway. This paper highlights a micro-economic aspect of the relationship between these two goals by investigating how a firm being formal versus informal affects its sustainable and responsible innovation (S&RI) activity, a milestone for sustainable development. Using a propensity score matching methodological approach to analyze an original database extracted from the Nigerian Business Innovation Surveys for 2005-2007, we find that registered Nigerian firms have a higher propensity to introduce S&RIs than unregistered firms. This result is robust to alternative and widely used matching methods. Hence, in the prospect of sustainable development of Nigeria and developing countries in general, there should not be a hiatus between acknowledging and further understanding the importance of informality in the economy and promoting policies that give firms incentives to formalize. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable development; sustainable and responsible innovation; informality,; developing countries; Nigeria. |
| JEL: | O17 O35 O55 Q01 Q55 |
| Date: | 2022–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:127408&r= |
| By: | Ralf Martin; Dennis Verhoeven |
| Abstract: | The UK government has committed to increase R&D support for clean technologies in an effort to meet its net-zero target by 2050. The opportunity cost of such programs crucially depends on the value of knowledge spillovers that accrue from clean relative to other (emerging) technologies. Using patent information to measure the value of direct and indirect knowledge spillovers, we derive estimates for the expected economic returns of subsidising a particular technology field. Our method allows comparing fields by the returns a hypothetical additional subsidy would have generated within the UK or globally. Clean technologies are top-ranked in terms of within-UK returns, with Tidal and Offshore Wind showing particularly high returns. In terms of global returns, emerging technologies such as Wireless, as well as Electrical Engineering outperform Clean by a small margin. We also find that cross-border knowledge spillovers are important for all technology fields, with global return rates over ten times larger than within-UK ones. In sum, our results suggest that the opportunity cost of R&D support programs for clean innovation in the UK is low at worst. |
| Keywords: | innovation, knowledge spillovers, clean technology, innovation policy, patent data |
| Date: | 2022–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1834&r= |
| By: | Hörner,Denise; Bouguen,Adrien; Frölich,Markus; Wollni,Meike |
| Abstract: | In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural extension models have become more decentralizedand participatory and thus, rely on effective farmer-to-farmer learning, while increasingly includingnon-traditional forms of education. At the same time, agricultural technologies become more complex and are nowoften promoted as integrated packages, likely to increase the complexity of the diffusion process. Based on arandomized controlled trial, this study assesses the effects of ‘farmer-to-farmer’ extension and a video intervention onadoption of a complex technology package among 2,382 smallholders in Ethiopia. Both extension-only and extensioncombined with video increase adoption and knowledge of the package, especially of its more complex components; althoughon average, there is no additional effect of the video intervention on adoption. Knowledge and the number ofadopted practices also increase among farmers not actively participating in extension activities, suggestinginformation diffusion. For this group, the additional video intervention has a reinforcing effect, and particularlyfosters adoption of the integrated package. |
| Keywords: | Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing,Climate Change and Agriculture,Crops and Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Extension,Fertilizers |
| Date: | 2021–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9840&r= |