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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Roberto Alvarez; Claudio Bravo-Ortega; Lucas Navarro |
| Abstract: | This paper uses two sources of information and different methodologies to analyze the causal effect of product and process innovation on productivity in the Chilean manufacturing industry during the past decade. In general, the evidence suggests there is not a contemporaneous effect of product innovation on productivity, but there is a positive effect of process innovation. This notsignificant effect of product innovation contrasts with evidence of studies for other countries. However, the results show the presence of lagged effects product innovation on productivity two years after innovation. Compared with the case of developed countries, this evidence might be consistent with a very slow process of “learning by doing” on the part of Chilean firms with regard to mastering new technologies. These slow and frequently uncertain gains in productivity could help to explain the low levels of investment in research and development (R&D) activities by Chilean firms. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Innovation, Investment, Research and development, Chile |
| JEL: | D24 D92 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4691&r=tid |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Ebersberger, Bernd |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of R&D subsidies on the concentration of R&D in an economy. First, governments are often criticized of subsidizing predominantly larger firms and thus contribute to persistence of leadership in markets and higher barriers to entry, and, hence, reduced competition eventually. Second, theoretical literature, such as endogenous growth literature, has also shown that governmental intervention in the market for R&D affects the distribution of R&D which finally affects product market concentration. We test the relationship between R&D subsidies and R&D concentration employing treatment effects models on data of German and Finnish manufacturing firms. The data and estimations allow calculating concentration indices for the population of firms for both the actual situation where some selected companies receive R&D subsidies and the counterfactual situation describing the absence of subsidies. We find that R&D subsidies do not lead to higher concentration of R&D. On the contrary, we even find that R&D concentration is significantly reduced because of subsidies. This result may be attributed to the fact that technology policy maintains special funding schemes for small and medium-sized companies. The fact that the larger companies benefit from a higher likelihood of a subsidy receipt is offset by the phenomenon that smaller firms may be completely deterred from any R&D activity if they would not receive governmental support. -- |
| Keywords: | R&D Concentration,R&D Subsidies,Treatment Effects,Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10078&r=tid |
| By: | Maria Guadalupe; Olga Kuzmina; Catherine Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a rich panel dataset of Spanish manufacturing firms (1990-2006) and a propensity score reweighting estimator to show that multinational firms acquire the most productive domestic firms, which, on acquisition, conduct more product and process innovation (simultaneously adopting new machines and organizational practices) and adopt foreign technologies, leading to higher productivity. We propose a model of endogenous selection and innovation in heterogeneous firms that jointly explains the observed selection process and the innovation decisions. Further, we show in the data that innovation on acquisition is associated with the increased market scale provided by the parent firm. |
| JEL: | D21 F23 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16573&r=tid |
| By: | Massimo D'Antoni; Maria Alessandra Rossi |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the effects on ex ante incentives to invest in the development of complementary innovations of two alternative appropriability strategies: a strategy of exclusion of third parties from access (through active enforcement of IPRs or technical means) vis-a-vis an openness strategy, i.e. an ex-ante commitment not to exclude. Assuming that the complementary innovations constitute a common input and that agents make complementary investments in its private exploitation, we find that, when complementarities are sufficiently strong, a commitment to openness may provide greater incentives than an exclusion strategy. The theoretical framework is used to provide an interpretation of Open Source Software licenses and the “Open Science” system. |
| Keywords: | incentives to innovation, complementarity, intellectual property rights, open source software, open science. |
| JEL: | L17 O34 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:603&r=tid |
| By: | Ådne Cappelen, Erik Fjærli, Frank Foyn, Torbjørn Hægeland, Jarle Møen, Arvid Raknerud and Marina Rybalka (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | We find that the Norwegian R&D tax credit scheme introduced in 2002 mainly works as intended. The scheme is cost-effective and it is used by a large number of firms. It stimulates these firms to invest more in R&D, and, in particular, the effect is positive for small firms with little R&D experience. The returns on the R&D investments supported by the scheme are positive and generally not different from the returns to other R&D investments. We have found examples of what can be interpreted as tax motivated adjustments to the scheme, but to some extent this must be accepted as a cost to subsidy and support schemes intended for use by a large number of economic agents. This is particularly so when attempts are made to keep administrative expenditures and control routines at a low level. |
| Keywords: | R&D tax credit; R&D subsidies; Innovation policy; Norway |
| JEL: | H25 O38 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:640&r=tid |
| By: | Plechero, Monica (ATPS, Tanzania); Chaminade, Cristina (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Since the seminal work of Archibugi and Michie (1995) on the globalization of innovation, several authors have tried to understand the complex relationship between innovation and internationalization, mainly using firm or sectoral level data. However, most of them tend to focus on just one form of globalization of innovation – exploitation of technology, research collaboration or offshoring of R&D – and often One traditional indicator of innovation, like patents or R&D investments, thus ignoring the complexity of the phenomenon. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the interplay of the micro characteristics of firms, the region in which they are embedded and different forms of globalization of innovation. Our paper is based on three distinct modes of globalization of innovation: global exploitation of innovation, global sourcing of technology and global research collaboration, thus adapting Archibugi and Michie’s taxonomy to a developing country context. We then use this taxonomy to explore empirically the linkages of firm-level competences, the nature of the international activities and the region in which the firms are located: Pune in India and Beijing in China. We use primary data on the two regions to show that the Pune region is specialized in the three types of globalization of innovation, and in particular in the exploitation of innovation more than Beijing. A deeper analysis of the micro characteristics of the firms shows that the three modes of globalization of innovation are associated to different competences. Firms with technological and organizational competences show a higher propensity to develop international linkages, while firms with a high level of educated human resources seems to focus more on the domestic market. |
| Keywords: | globalization; innovation; regions; competences; China; India |
| JEL: | O30 |
| Date: | 2010–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2010_003&r=tid |
| By: | Adam Jaffe (Department of Economics, Brandeis University); Seth Werfel (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | Neoclassical economic theory predicts that policies that discourage the consumption of a particular good will induce innovation in a socially desirable substitute. Evolutionary theory emphasizes the possibility of innovation waves associated with the identification of new dominant designs. We incorporate both of these possibilities in a model of the invention of new smoking cessation products, based on a new dataset of patents on such products from 1951-2004. We find that an increase in cigarette tax levels and smoking bans had no discernable impact on the industry-wide rate of invention in smoking cessation products. It does appear, however, that dominant designs did have substantial positive innovation effects. More specifically, the introduction of the nicotine gum and patch are estimated to have increased the rate of patenting activity in smoking cessation products by 60 and 79 percent, respectively, subject to a 10 percent rate of decay. Finally, these products had larger innovation effects at the firm level than among individual inventors. |
| Keywords: | Patents, Technological Change, Smoking Cessation Products, Cigarette Taxes |
| JEL: | O31 O38 H23 I18 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brd:wpaper:9&r=tid |