nep-tid New Economics Papers
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics
Issue of 2013‒03‒23
four papers chosen by
Rui Baptista
Technical University of Lisbon

  1. Selection Bias in Innovation Studies: A Simple Test By Gaétan de Rassenfosse; Anja Schoen; Annelies Wastyn
  2. Basic Innovation and Firm Performance By Burak Dindaroglu
  3. Explaining the Patenting Propensity: A Regional Analysis using EPO-OECD Data By Cozza, Claudio; Schettino, Francesco
  4. Price setting in an innovative market By Adam Copeland; Adam Hale Shapiro

  1. By: Gaétan de Rassenfosse (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne; Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, The University of Melbourne); Anja Schoen (Technische Universität München); Annelies Wastyn (Department of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation, KU Leuven)
    Abstract: The study of the innovative output of organizations often relies on a count of patents filed at one single office of reference such as the European Patent Office (EPO). Yet, not all organizations file their patents at the EPO, raising the specter of a selection bias. Using novel datasets of the whole population of patents by Belgian firms and German universities, we show that the single-office count results in a selection bias that affects econometric estimates of invention production functions. We propose a methodology to evaluate whether estimates that rely on the single-office count are affected by a selection bias.
    Keywords: Knowledge production function, patent count, R&D, selection bias
    JEL: O31 C18 C52 C81
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n08&r=tid
  2. By: Burak Dindaroglu (Department of Economics, Izmir University of Economics)
    Abstract: I study the effects of basic and applied innovation on a firm's market value and total factor productivity for a panel of U.S. manufacturing firms. Basicness of innovation is measured by the index of generality proposed by Trajtenberg, Henderson and Jaffe (1997), and basic and applied innovation stocks are proxied by the stocks of patents that score at the relevant tails of the generality distribution. I find that the market valuation and productivity effects of basic and applied innovation are drastically different. Market value is positively associated with a firm's applied innovation stock, but it exhibits no association with its basic innovation stock. On the other hand, patents at the higher (resp. lower) quartiles of the generality distribution are positively (resp. negatively) associated with total factor productivity and productivity growth. Therefore, complementing previous studies on basic research, I find that the basicness of innovation is associated with a productivity premium.
    Keywords: Basic innovation; Applied innovation; Patents; Citations; Generality; Market value; Tobin's q; Productivity.
    JEL: O31 O33 L60
    Date: 2013–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:izm:wpaper:1301&r=tid
  3. By: Cozza, Claudio; Schettino, Francesco
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study empirically the patenting propensity at the European regional level. To do that we use the OECD-REGPAT dataset, that includes patent applications made by European inventors and applicants to EPO in the time-span 1978-2011. Explanatory variables on R&D and human capital are extracted from EUROSTAT and OECD databases. In order to reduce biases we use patent applications by region of the inventor, as its linkage to the territory is stronger than using the region of the applicant. Analyzing the data, we sketch out the existence of a deep uneven distribution both in patent applications and R&D expenditure. Richer regions in terms of GDP – generally those of central-western Europe – show higher level of both private and public R&D expenditure as well as a consistent share of the whole European patent applications in last decades. As a consequence, eastern (and to a minor extent southern) European regions report harmful outcomes in terms of both variables. Thus, following the approach of Cincera (1997, 2005) we explain the determinants of patenting propensity using a regional panel data. Our main results substantially confirm the key role of R&D expenditure on patenting activity: mainly the business-enterprises component, but also the government sector one. Moreover, human capital variables – such as the share of human resources employed in high tech industries, and the number of highly qualified workers in science and technology occupations – show a positive relationship with patenting propensity. On the other side, average enterprise size seems not to play a determinant role on patent applications.
    Keywords: Patents, Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, EPO, R&D
    JEL: K29 O34 O4
    Date: 2013–03–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45084&r=tid
  4. By: Adam Copeland; Adam Hale Shapiro
    Abstract: We examine how the confluence of competition and upstream innovation influences downstream firms’ profit-maximizing strategies. In particular, we analyze how, in light of these forces, the downstream firm sets the price of the product over its life cycle. We focus on personal computers (PCs) and introduce two novel data sets that describe prices and sales in the industry. Our main result is that a vintage-capital model that combines a competitive market structure with a rapid rate of innovation is well able to explain the observed paths of prices, as well as sales and consumer income, over a typical PC’s product cycle. The analysis implies that rapid price declines are not caused by upstream innovation alone, but rather by the combination of upstream innovation and a competitive environment.
    Keywords: Technological innovations ; Computer industry ; Prices
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2013-04&r=tid

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