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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Ryan L. Lampe; Petra Moser |
| Abstract: | Patent pools allow a group of firms to combine their patents as if they were a single firm. Theoretical models predict that pools encourage innovation in pool technologies, albeit at the cost of innovation in substitutes. Empirical evidence is scarce because modern pools are too recent to allow empirical analyses. This article examines data on patents and innovations by new firms for a historical pool in the sewing machine industry (1856-1877) to examine effects on innovation. Contrary to theoretical predictions, this analysis suggests that pools may discourage innovation in pool technologies and shift R&D towards technologically inferior substitutes. |
| JEL: | D4 K21 L10 L24 L4 N61 N81 O3 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17573&r=tid |
| By: | Roberto Alvarez; José Miguel Benavente; Rolando Campusano; Conrado Cuevas |
| Abstract: | This paper compiles and analyzes several sources of information to shed light on the relationship between innovation and employment growth in the manufacturing industry in Chile in the last 15 years. Our overall conclusions are that process innovation is generally not found to be a relevant determinant of employment growth, and that product innovation is usually positively associated with an expansion in employment. These results seem to be similar regardless of firm size and hold for both low- and high-tech industries. Our findings reveal that in-house R&D (make only strategy) is positively related with employment growth. However, this is not the case for the sample of small firms. With respect to employment growth by types of workers, skilled vs. unskilled, the evidence is less robust. However, in-house R&D appears to favor employment growth for both types of workers in low-tech industries. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology :: Research & Development, Labor :: Workforce & Employment, Science & Technology :: New Technologies, Innovation, new technology employment, research & development, Chile |
| JEL: | D2 J23 L1 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:54258&r=tid |
| By: | Ricardo Monge-González; Juan A. Rodríguez-Alvarez; John Hewitt; Jeffrey Orozco; Keynor Ruiz |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the degree to which innovation by Costa Rican manufacturing firms creates or displaces employment, how different innovation strategies affect employment, and how these effects vary by firm size and type of employment demand characteristics (skills and gender). In particular the research focuses on the differential effects of product and process innovations on employment growth. Particular attention is paid to identifying innovation impacts on employment generation by SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology :: Research & Development, Labor :: Workforce & Employment, Private Sector :: SME, Science & Technology :: New Technologies, Innovation, employment, skills, genders, SMEs, Costa Rica |
| JEL: | O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:54278&r=tid |
| By: | Federico Biagi; Massimo Loi |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this study is to investigate upon the impact of fiscal incentives on firm’s innovative performance. We use data from the 7th, 8th and 9th waves of the “Indagine sulle Imprese Manifatturiere Italiane†by Unicredit (previously managed by Capitalia-Mediocredito Centrale), which contains information on both product and process innovation by manufacturing firms, on the amount of resources invested in R&D (if such amount is positive) and it is also informative of the existence of forms of fiscal incentive for R&D and investment in innovative activities. In our study we use different techniques. First we look at Average Treatment Effects, under the assumption of “selection on observablesâ€, implying that the econometrician has access to all the variables affecting the likelihood of being treated. In this part of the paper we verify whether -everything else constant (i.e. for a given value of the propensity score)- there is evidence that firms that have access to fiscal incentives tend to innovate more. In the second part of our study we cast some doubts on the plausibility of the “selection on observables†assumption and we look more in depth at one specific case of fiscal incentive: the one provided by Law 140/1999 to firms located in “depressed areas†(as defined by the law itself). We focus on this law because it is particularly important from a policy perspective within the Italian dual economy, but also because it allows us a more precise estimate of the treatment effect in a situation where treatment status (i.e. access to the incentive) is likely to depend to the same (unobserved) factors that affect the innovation outcome. In such a situation OLS estimated are biased and inconsistent and we have to use instrumental variable estimation. We choose to instrument treatment using the eligibility rules for treatment and we find the confirmation that indeed an endogeneity issue exists and that its effects are stronger the weaker is the impact of treatment on the outcome variable. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p681&r=tid |
| By: | Seker, Murat |
| Abstract: | The regulatory environment in a country can affect firm performance. This study investigates the impact of a particular regulation, namely license requirements for certain firm activities, on the innovation performance of Indian firms. First it presents a model of firm and industry evolution that explains the dynamics of multi-product firms. Then, using a firm level panel data set, it shows that removal of license requirements led to roughly 5 percentage points faster innovation rates where innovation is measured as introduction of new product varieties that had not existed in the market. The results are robust to inclusion of controls for the other policy reforms that occurred during the period of licensing reform. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Labor Policies,Microfinance,Markets and Market Access,Knowledge for Development |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5876&r=tid |