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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Bart Los; Marcel P. Timmer; Gaaitzen J. De Vries |
| Abstract: | We propose a new method to analyse the changing skills structure of employment in countries based on the input-output structure of the world economy. Demand for jobs, characterized by skill type and industry of employment, is driven by changes in technology, trade and consumption. Using structural decomposition analysis, we study the relative importance of these drivers for the period 1995-2008. In doing so, we derive a new measure of technological change in vertically integrated production chains and show that it has been skill-biased. We find that skill-biased technological change has played the most important role in the different employment growth rates of high-skilled, medium-skilled and low-skilled labour in advanced countries. For emerging countries, the patterns of employment growth are very heterogeneous. Analyse de l'évolution de la demande de compétences entre 1995 et 2008 sous l'angle des chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales Nous proposons une nouvelle méthode pour étudier l’évolution de la structure de l’emploi en termes de compétences dans les pays, qui s’appuie sur une analyse entrées-sorties de l’économie mondiale. La demande d’emplois, selon le type de compétences et le secteur d’activité, est tirée par l’évolution des technologies, des échanges et de la consommation. À partir d’une analyse par décomposition structurelle, nous examinons le poids relatif de chacun de ces moteurs sur la période 1995-2008. Nous obtenons ainsi une nouvelle mesure du progrès technologique dans les chaînes de production intégrées verticalement, qui montre que le progrès technologique privilégie les qualifications. Nous estimons que, dans les pays avancés, c’est ce phénomène qui permet en premier lieu d’expliquer les différences entre les taux de croissance de l’emploi des travailleurs hautement qualifiés, moyennement qualifiés et peu qualifiés. Dans les pays émergents, les taux de croissance de l’emploi sont très variables. |
| Keywords: | technological change, global supply chains, trade, world input–output tables, demand for skills, échanges, demande de compétences, chaînes d’approvisionnement mondiales, tableaux entrées-sorties, progrès technologique |
| JEL: | D57 F16 |
| Date: | 2014–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1141-en&r=tid |
| By: | M. Cecilia Bustamante; Andrés Donangelo |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that product market competition has two opposing effects on asset returns. The first relates to the procyclical nature of the value destruction from expansion of competitors, which lowers exposure to systematic risk in more competitive industries. The second is related to the narrower profit margins due to competition, which increase exposure to systematic risk. We find that the first effect dominates the second, so that firms in more competitive industries generally earn lower asset returns. Our results are robust to using five alternative measures of competition and to controlling for the sample selection bias of publiclylisted firms. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fmg:fmgdps:dp728&r=tid |
| By: | Chiara Piccardo (Università di Genova); Anna Bottasso (Università di Genova); Luigi Benfratello (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds additional light on the relationship between firm level innovative capacity and export intensity. By drawing from the recent literature on exporters' heterogeneity, we apply quantile regression techniques to a sample of Italian firms in order to verify whether the effect of innovative capacity – measured by R&D expenditures – varies along the conditional distribution of the export intensity, after controlling for censoring and potential endogeneity of the innovation variable. We confirm that R&D expenditures positively affect export intensity and we find that such effect has a bell shaped pattern along its conditional distribution: firms characterized by export intensity of about 60% can take highest advantage from investing in R&D activity. Overall results prove to be robust to several specification checks and suggest not only that firms innovative capacity helps to explain heterogeneity in export intensity performance, but also that its positive effect differs across the export to sales ratio distribution. |
| Keywords: | Exports, R&D, quantile regression, endogeneity, distance to the frontier |
| JEL: | F14 O32 D22 C31 C36 |
| Date: | 2014–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:371&r=tid |
| By: | Priit Vahter (University of Tartu, Estonia); James H. Love (Aston Business School); Stephen Roper (Warwick University Business School) |
| Abstract: | Traditionally, literature on open innovation has concentrated on analysis of larger firms. We explore whether and how the benefits of openness in innovation are different for small firms (less than 50 employees) compared to medium and large ones. Using panel data over a long time period (1994-2008) from Irish manufacturing plants, we find that small plants have on average significantly lower levels of openness, a pattern which has not changed significantly since the early 1990s. However, the effect of ‘breadth’ of openness (i.e. variety of innovation linkages) on innovation performance is stronger for small firms than for larger firms. For small firms (with 10-49 employees) external linkages account for around 40 per cent of innovative sales compared to around 25 per cent in larger firms. Small plants also reach the limits to benefitting from openness at lower levels of breadth of openness than larger firms. Our results suggest that small firms can gain significantly from adopting an open innovation strategy, but for such firms appropriate partner choice is a particularly important issue. |
| Keywords: | open innovation, SMEs, boundary-spanning linkages, learning effects, Ireland |
| JEL: | O31 O32 L25 |
| Date: | 2013–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:enr:rpaper:0012&r=tid |
| By: | Peter van der Zwan |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on SMEs – firms with 250 employees at most – and the proportion of their requested loan that is granted by the bank. Financial data for SMEs in 38 European countries for 2011 are used (SMEs’ Access to Finance survey) to test the relationship between ownership structure and innovation on the one hand and loan application success on the other hand. The set of control variables includes firm age, firm size, past firm growth, expected firm growth, and sector orientation. Focusing on the determinants of access to finance is important because restricted access could hinder firm growth. It turns out that SMEs that are part of a business group and SMEs with a multiple ownership structure have higher probabilities of receiving the requested bank loan than SMEs with a single owner. There is some evidence that female owned business have more success regarding their loan applications than male owned businesses. Furthermore, SMEs that adopt product or process innovations are less likely to receive the requested loan than SMEs that do not display innovative behavior. The robustness of these findings across several model specifications is shown and the implications of the findings are discussed. |
| Date: | 2014–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h201404&r=tid |
| By: | Kühnhausen, Fabian |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I evaluate the impact of innovative activity of financial agents on their fragility in a competitive framework. There exist a vast array of concerns about the interconnection of financial innovations, financial distress of firms and financial crises provided by theoretical arguments. I build on these and assess empirically the causal link between a financial agents' innovativeness and stability. Using a unique data set on financial innovations in the USA between 1990 and 2002, I show that a larger degree of innovation negatively (positively) affects firm stability (fragility) after controlling for the underlying firm characteristics. The results are robust against different modifications of innovation measures and against different fragility parameters indicating profitability, activity risk and risk of insolvency. |
| Keywords: | Incentives to Innovate; Financial Innovation; Fragility |
| JEL: | G01 G2 L11 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:21173&r=tid |