nep-tid New Economics Papers
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics
Issue of 2016‒01‒18
eight papers chosen by
Fulvio Castellacci
Universitetet i Oslo

  1. The effects of innovation policies on firm level patenting By Marit E. Klemetsen
  2. The impact of firm financing constraints on R&D over the business cycle By Kadri Männasoo; Jaanika Meriküll
  3. Technical Change, Non-Tariff Barriers, and the Development of the Italian Locomotive Industry, 1850-1913 By Carlo Ciccarelli; Alessandro Nuvolari
  4. The Impact of Information and Communication Technology Adoption on Multinational Firm Boundary Decisions By Wenjie Chen; Fariha Kamal
  5. The Roles of Emerging Multinational Companies’ Technology-driven FDIs in their Learning Processes for Innovation: A dynamic and contextual perspective By Liu , Ju; Lema , Rasmus
  6. Sectoral change and labour productivity growth during boom, bust and recovery By Andres Kuusk; Karsten Staehr; Uku Varblane
  7. Capital Allocation Across Sectors: Evidence from a Boom in Agriculture By Paula Bustos; Gabriel Garber; Jacopo Ponticelli
  8. Something New: Where do new industries come from? By Feldman , Maryann P.; Tavassoli , Sam

  1. By: Marit E. Klemetsen (Statistics Norway)
    Abstract: This paper examines the impacts of R&D tax credits and direct R&D subsidies on Norwegian firms' patenting, with a particular focus on environmental patenting. Whereas direct subsidies are aimed at projects with low private and high social return, tax credits do not discriminate between projects or technologies. We find that both direct subsidies and tax credits have significant positive effects on patenting in general. Although direct subsidies have triggered more patents, tax credits are more efficient in the sense that they have triggered more patents relative to the typical subsidy amount received. With regard to environmental patenting, we find no significant effects of tax credits, whereas the effects of direct subsidies are large and significant. A possible explanation is that environmental innovations face the environmental externality, greater knowledge externalities and require funding that is willing to take more risks and allow more patience. Tax credits currently favor small and medium sized firms and firms with relatively low R&D investments. For large firms, we find large and significant effects of direct subsidies, but no significant effects of tax credits.
    Keywords: R&D tax credits; SkatteFUNN; direct R&D subsidies; environmental innovation; SMEs; Poission count model; fixed effects
    JEL: C54 D22 O31 O38 Q55
    Date: 2015–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:830&r=tid
  2. By: Kadri Männasoo; Jaanika Meriküll
    Abstract: This paper studies financing constraints on R&D over the most recent boom and bust episode in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Given that financial and venture capital markets in CEE are thin in comparison to those in high-income economies and that many of CEE countries experienced a credit crunch during the last recession, it is proposed that financing constraints have a significant adverse effect on R&D activity in these countries. The paper uses two complementary firm-level data-sources from ten CEE countries. We find that financing constraints have a substantial effect on R&D expenditures, as the probability of credit constrained firms undertaking R&D activities is around 70% lower than for other firms and firms’ R&D expenditure sensitivity to cash flow is very high. Despite the severity of the crisis, the adverse effect of financing constraints for R&D did not increase during the financial crisis. We also find that, conditional on credit constraints, firms’ R&D activity is higher during a recession
    Keywords: R&D financing constraints, credit constraints, business cycle, Central and Eastern Europe
    JEL: O16 O32 O52 E32 P23
    Date: 2015–12–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2015-3&r=tid
  3. By: Carlo Ciccarelli; Alessandro Nuvolari
    Abstract: This paper examines the dynamics of technical change in the Italian locomotive industry in the period 1850-1913. From an historical point of view, this industry presents a major point of interest: it was one of the few relatively sophisticated "high-tech" sectors in which Italy, a latecomer country, was able to set foot firmly before 1913. Using technical data on the performance of different vintages of locomotives, we construct a new industry-level index of technical change. Our reassessment reveals the critical role played by non-tariff barriers for the emergence and consolidation of national manufacturers in this field.
    Date: 2014–02–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2014/23&r=tid
  4. By: Wenjie Chen; Fariha Kamal
    Abstract: This paper evaluates the effect of adopting internet-enabled information and communication technology (ICT) adoption on the decision to reorganize production across national borders (foreign boundary decision) by multinational enterprises (MNE). Using a transaction cost framework, we argue that ICT adoption influences foreign boundary decisions by lowering coordination costs both internally and externally for the firm. We propose that the heterogeneity in the technology’s characteristics, namely complexity and the production processes’ degree of codifiability, moderate this influence. Using a difference-in-differences methodology and exploiting the richness of confidential U.S. Census Bureau microdata, we find that overall ICT adoption is positively associated with greater likelihood of in-house production, as measured by increases in intra-firm trade shares. Furthermore, we find that more complex forms of ICT are associated with larger increases in intra-firm trade shares. Finally, our results indicate that MNEs in industries in which production specifications are more easily codified in an electronic format are less likely to engage in intra-firm relative to arms-length trade following ICT adoption.
    Date: 2016–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-01&r=tid
  5. By: Liu , Ju (CIRCLE, Lund University); Lema , Rasmus (Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University)
    Abstract: This paper is a comparative case study investigating the roles of TFDIs in the learning processes for innovation in two leading Chinese wind turbine companies. It develops a dynamic and contextual analytical framework from a learning-based view to understand the firms’ learning processes for innovation. Based on the analysis and a comparison of the learning dynamics and learning contexts of the two case firms’ learning processes for innovation, the paper contextually theorises the different roles of the case firms’ TFDIs in their learning processes for innovation. The paper identifies two different roles of the TFDIs – the accelerator and the starter – in different contexts of the learning processes. We argue that for developing countries that have the ambition of tapping into the global knowledge and technology pool, domestic industrial capability-building should not be overlooked.
    Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Emerging multinational companies; Technology; Innovation; Wind energy; China; Europe
    JEL: D22 F23 O32
    Date: 2015–12–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_050&r=tid
  6. By: Andres Kuusk; Karsten Staehr; Uku Varblane
    Abstract: This paper assesses the extent of structural or sectoral change and its importance for aggregate productivity growth during times of boom, bust and recovery. The analysis covers 10 EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe over the years 2001–2012. The reallocation of labour across sectors was substantial during the boom, very extensive in 2009 at the depth of the crisis and modest in the subsequent recovery period. The contribution of sectoral change to aggregate productivity growth is computed using various decomposition methods. Changes in labour productivity within sectors play the dominant role for aggregate productivity growth, while reallocation of labour between sectors is less important. This pattern is found through most of the sample period despite large differences in the extent of sectoral change during the boom, crisis and recovery
    Keywords: labour productivity, structural change, reallocation, productivity decomposition
    JEL: L16 E32 P23
    Date: 2015–12–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2015-2&r=tid
  7. By: Paula Bustos; Gabriel Garber; Jacopo Ponticelli
    Abstract: We study the allocation of capital across sectors. In particular, we assess to what extent growth in agricultural profits can lead to an increase in the supply of credit in industry and services. For this purpose, we identify an exogenous increase in agricultural profits due to the adoption of genetically engineered soy in Brazil. The new agricultural technology had heterogeneous effects in areas with different soil and weather characteristics. We find that regions with larger increases in agricultural profitability experienced increases in local bank deposits. However, there was no increase in local bank lending. Instead, capital was reallocated towards other regions through bank branch networks. Regions with more bank branches receiving funds from soy areas experienced both an increase in credit supply and faster growth of small and medium sized firms
    Date: 2016–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:414&r=tid
  8. By: Feldman , Maryann P. (Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U.S.); Tavassoli , Sam (CIRCLE, Lund University)
    Abstract: Emerging industries have great potential for both entrepreneurship and regional transformation. The emergent earliest stage of the industry lifecycle is when there is the greatest potential and when local factors matter most however we typically can only identify new industries in retrospect. This chapter provides an overview of the transformative potential of emerging industries and considers the challenges associated with studying emerging industries in real time. The chapter considers the regional context for studying new industries and offers a set of regional factors that might promote the emergence of new industries.
    Keywords: emerging industries; geography of innovation; market-pull; science-push; local economic development
    JEL: N90 O18 O33 R12
    Date: 2015–12–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_049&r=tid

This nep-tid issue is ©2016 by Fulvio Castellacci. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.