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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
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Issue of 2014‒02‒02
ten papers chosen by Fulvio Castellacci Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; David Autor; David Dorn; Gordon H. Hanson; Brendan Price |
| Abstract: | An increasingly influential “technological-discontinuity” paradigm suggests that IT-induced technological changes are rapidly raising productivity while making workers redundant. This paper explores the evidence for this view among the IT-using U.S. manufacturing industries. There is some limited support for more rapid productivity growth in IT-intensive industries depending on the exact measures, though not since the late 1990s. Most challenging to this paradigm, and our expectations, is that output contracts in IT-intensive industries relative to the rest of manufacturing. Productivity increases, when detectable, result from the even faster declines in employment. |
| JEL: | J2 L60 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19837&r=tid |
| By: | Robert C. Feenstra |
| Abstract: | The monopolistic competition model in international trade offers three sources of gains from trade that do not arise in competitive models: expansion in product variety; a pro-competitive reduction in the markups charged by firms; and the self-selection of more efficient firms into exporting. Recent literature on trade with heterogeneous firms has emphasized the third of these effects, and the first two effects are ruled out when using a Pareto distribution for productivity with a support that is unbounded above. The goal of this paper is to restore a role for product variety and pro-competitive gains from trade by using a bounded Pareto distribution for productivity. |
| JEL: | F12 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19833&r=tid |
| By: | Stiebale, Joel; Haucap, Justus |
| Abstract: | This papers analyses how horizontal mergers affect innovation activities of the merged entity and its non-merging competitors. We develop an oligopoly model with heterogeneous firms to derive empirically testable implications. Our model predicts that a merger is more likely to be profitable in an innovation intensive industry. For a high degree of firm heterogeneity a merger reduces innovation in both the merged entity and in non-merging competitors in an industry with high R\&D intensity. Using data on horizontal mergers among pharmaceutical firms in Europe, we find that our econometric results are consistent with many predictions of the theoretical model. Our main result is that after a merger patenting and R\&D of the merged entity and its non-merging rivals declines substantially. The results are robust towards alternative specifications and using an instrumental variable strategy. -- |
| JEL: | D22 D43 O31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79831&r=tid |
| By: | Watzinger, Martin; Seitz, Michael |
| Abstract: | In this article we study the relation between the quality of contract enforcement and R&D investment across countries and industries. If companies invest successfully in R&D they are open for exploitation by their supplier if supply contracts are not enforceable. This hold-up problem can reduce the incentive to invest in R&D exante. In line with this theoretical idea we find in the empirical analysis that R&D investment increases with the quality of the judicial system. This effect is particularly strong in industries which rely more on contracts to acquire input and in which it is harder to vertically integrate. -- |
| JEL: | O30 O43 P48 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79773&r=tid |
| By: | Nielen, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | This study addresses the relationship between product innovation and the demand and supply of trade credit. Theoretical as well as empirical studies are used to derive the hypothesis of a positive link between product innovation and trade credit demand and supply. Using a sample covering SMEs from 24 European countries this relationship is tested empirically. Basically the estimation results confirm that introducing a product innovation is positively related with demand and provision of trade credit for SMEs. Innovative firms have a higher probability to face credit constraints and therefore have a higher probability to demand for trade credit. On the other hand suppliers have an incentive to provide trade credit especially to innovative customers because they have an easier access to information about the growth potential of innovative SMEs compared to banks. -- |
| JEL: | G32 O31 L20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79997&r=tid |
| By: | Vuong, Van Anh; Peters, Bettina; Roberts, Mark J.; Fryges, Helmut |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically rm investment behavior in research and development (R&D). Firms make investments in R&D in order to produce innovations. These innovations in turn improve the rm s future productivity level, pro tability and incentives to invest in R&D. Using German rm-level data from the manufacturing sector, we estimate a dynamic, structural model of the rm s choice to invest in R&D and quantify the bene t and cost of engaging in R&D. We nd that among rms that engage in R&D, process and product innovations create a signi cant improvement in their productivity. The cost for performing R&D differs across rms based on their size and R&D history. We compute the bene ts of R&D investment to the rm and nd that by taking the dynamic nature of the investment into account the real return to R&D is several times higher than the one time gain in rm productivity. -- |
| JEL: | L60 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79760&r=tid |
| By: | Heike Belitz; Anna Lejpras |
| Abstract: | We analyze the role of public support in the financing pattern of R&D in German SMEs and their assessment of financing conditions in the context of other framework conditions for innovation. In Germany, there is a diversity of overall well-funded technology-neutral and technology-specific programs providing grants to R&D and innovation projects. Different types of SMEs access public funding for R&D and innovation activities to varying degrees. Using an extensive sample of 2,700 German SMEs that participated in public R&D promotion programs during the 2005-2010 period, we identify four groups of companies with different patterns of public and private sources of R&D finance, such as own capital, grants, private and subsidized loans. The firms in our sample are generally positive about public financing of R&D in Germany in 2010. Despite the different funding patterns, we find only slight variations in this assessment across the four groups of subsidized SMEs. Nevertheless, medium-sized R&D companies (often with external equity investment) that have to finance the market introduction of innovations without a track record, appear to suffer from deficiencies in the provision of loans. Further, the companies perceive obstacles to innovation primarily in the non-financial sphere, namely the supply of skilled personnel, market regulation and competition conditions. Therefore, future work on innovation policies for SMEs should put greater emphasis on the non-financial external framework conditions for firm R&D and innovative activities. |
| Keywords: | R&D promotion, financing of R&D, small and medium sized enterprises, barriers to innovation |
| JEL: | O14 O25 O38 L20 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1353&r=tid |
| By: | Beerli, Andreas; Weiss, Franziska; Zilibotti, Fabrizio; Zweimüller, Josef |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of market size on innovation activities across different durable good industries in the Chinese manufacturing sector. We use a potential market size measure driven only by changes in the Chinese income distribution which is exogenous to changes in prices and qualities of durable goods to instrument for actual future market size. Results indicate that an increase in market size by one percentage point leads to an increase of 4.4% in R&D inputs, an increase in labour productivity by 6.5% and an increase in the likelihood of a successful product innovation by about 1.1 percentage points. These findings are robust controlling for export behaviour of firms and supply side drivers of R&D. -- |
| JEL: | L16 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79980&r=tid |
| By: | Böing, Philipp; Müller, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the influence of in-house R&D and external knowledge acquisition on the total factor productivity (TFP) of listed Chinese firms for the time period 2001-2010. We find a quantitatively important positive effect of in-house R&D. The achieved level of technological sophistication of Chinese firms is sufficient to benefit from R&D collaboration with domestic partners. We do not find a significant effect for employing inventors with access to international knowledge or for collaborating with international partners. International knowledge acquisition is only effective if conducted via joint ventures, i.e. if it is supported by a deep organizational relationship. -- |
| JEL: | O32 O33 O39 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:80037&r=tid |
| By: | Hottenrott, Hanna; Rexhäuser, Sascha |
| Abstract: | Significant policy effort is devoted to stimulate the development, adoption and diffusion of environmental-friendly technology. Sceptics worry about the effects of regulation-induced environmental technology on firms competitiveness. Since innovation is a crucial productivity driver, a potential crowding out of inventive efforts could increase the cost of mitigating environmental damage. Using propensity score matching, we study the short-term effects of regulation-induced environmental technology on non-green innovative activities for a sample of firms in Germany. We find indeed some evidence for a crowding out of the firms R&D and total innovation expenditures net of those costs due to the environmental innovation. The estimated treatment effect is larger for firms that are likely to face financing constraints. No significant effects are observed for the number of R&D projects and investments in non-innovation-related assets. Likewise, for firms with subsidy-backed environmental innovations no crowding out is found. -- |
| JEL: | O33 O31 Q55 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79791&r=tid |