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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Ufuk Akcigit; William Kerr |
| Abstract: | Technological progress builds upon itself, with the expansion of invention in one domain propelling future work in linked fields. Our analysis uses 1.8 million U.S. patents and their citation properties to map the innovation network and its strength. Past innovation network structures are calculated using citation patterns across technology classes during 1975-1994. The interaction of this pre-existing network structure with patent growth in upstream technology fields has strong predictive power on future innovation after 1995. This pattern is consistent with the idea that when there is more past upstream innovation for a particular technology class to build on, then that technology class innovates more. |
| JEL: | D85 O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22783&r=tid |
| By: | Stanislao Gualdi (Ecole Centrale Supélec - Laboratoire MAS); Antoine Mandel (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the interplay between technological change and macroeconomic dynamics in an agent-based model of the formation of production networks. On the one hand, production networks form the structure that determines economic dynamics in the short run. On the other hand, their evolution reflects the long-term impacts of competition and innovation on the economy. We account for process innovation via increasing variety in the input mix and hence increasing connectivity in the network. In turn, product innovation induces a direct growth of the firm's productivity and the potential destruction of links. The interplay between both processes generate complex technological dynamics in which phases of process and product innovation successively dominate. The model reproduces a wealth of stylized facts about industrial dynamics and technological progress, in particular the persistence of heterogeneity among firms and Wright's law for the growth of productivity within a technological paradigm. We illustrate the potential of the model for the analysis of industrial policy via a preliminary set of policy experiments in which we investigate the impact on innovators' success of feed-in tariffs and of priority market access |
| Keywords: | Production network; Network formation; Scale-free networks; Firms demographics; distribution of firms' size; Zipf law; General equilibrium; monopolistic competition; disequilibrium |
| JEL: | D57 D85 L16 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:16054&r=tid |
| By: | Johannes VAN DER POL |
| Abstract: | One of the objectives of the analysis of innovation networks is to explain the structure of the network. The latter is important because it reveals strategic decisions of the firms in terms of collaboration. Different factors have already been identified (e.g technological and geographical proximity), the role of the life-cycle of the technology has however not yet been analysed.\r\nThe aim of this paper is to extend the existing literature on innovation networks in two ways. First we show that the International Patent Classification can be used to generate a knowledge network that can be used as a proxy for the identification of the technology life-cycle. Second we show that there is a correlation between the structural dynamics of the network and the life-cycle of the technology. |
| Keywords: | Network analysis ; Innovation network ; technology life-cycle ; Knowledge network |
| JEL: | L14 D83 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2016-25&r=tid |
| By: | Håkon Endresen Normann (TIK Centre, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs the concept of policy networks to study how interest groups and actors compete over the influence of energy and climate policy. It is argued that the creation of learning arenas is critical for the development of immature technologies. The paper then analyses two large efforts to secure state funding of large-scale demonstration projects for offshore wind and carbon capture and storage technology in Norway. The paper describes a range of similarities between these two technologies in terms of scale, maturity, and costs, and in the way they represent possible solutions to the problem of climate change. However, the paper also describes enormous differences in government support towards full-scale demonstration. These differences are then explained in the analysis, which shows how different network structures facilitate different levels of access to the policy making process. The paper provides insights into how the interests of political parties influence the potency for solutions tied to climate and energy problems. The paper therefore contributes to the discourse on the role of politics in sustainable transitions. |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tik:inowpp:20161026&r=tid |
| By: | Johannes VAN DER POL |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to offer an analytical review of the literature focusing on the link between collaboration and performance. More precisely, the paper analyses the impact the position of the firm in the network has on the performance of the firm. Evolving in an innovation network implies that the firm is exposed to knowledge flows from collaborators. They are also exposed to the diffusion of their reputation through their partners. This document summarizes the different factors that have an impact on the manner in which firms can profit from their network and how, in their turn, they can impact the network. |
| Keywords: | Innovation networks ; Performance ; Knowledge ; Collaboration |
| JEL: | L14 D83 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2016-23&r=tid |
| By: | Alonso de Gortari (Harvard University); Pol Antras (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the optimal location of production for the different stages in a sequential global value chain. We develop a general-equilibrium model featuring a proximity-concentration tradeoff: slicing global value chains across countries allows to better exploit agglomeration economies, but such fragmentation comes at the cost of increased transportation costs. We show that, other things equal, it is optimal to locate relatively downstream stages of production in relatively central or well-connected locations, while upstream stages of production are optimally assigned to more remote locations. We illustrate this result by working out the optimal location of production for a few basic topologies featuring a low number of countries and stages. Exact solutions to the problem for a larger number of countries and stages are computationally complex, but can be obtained using combinatorial optimization tools. We apply the model to study the optimal specialization within chains in eleven countries in Factory Asia. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1252&r=tid |
| By: | Diego Comin (Dartmouth College); Daniel Lashkari (Harvard U.); Marti Mestieri (Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | We develop a multi-sectoral endogenous growth model in which the direction of innovation across sectors is endogenous. Thus, our model provides a theoretical framework to think about the classical demand-pull versus technology-push drivers of innovation in a general equilibrium framework. A robust prediction that emerges from our analysis is that innovation growth should be higher in more income-elastic sectors. We test this prediction using the universe of U.S. patents for the period 1976-2007. We find empirical support for this prediction. Preliminary analysis of firm R&D expenditures from the U.S. census also confirm this prediction. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed016:1287&r=tid |
| By: | Flavio Calvino |
| Abstract: | This work studies the firm-level relationship between different types of innovative activities and employment growth rates. Improving on previous investigations on the topic, it combines a dynamic panel analysis of the effects of different types of product and process innovation on employment growth with an outlook on the whole conditional employment growth distribution. Results show that product innovation -- especially in terms of good new to the entire market -- has a positive effect on employment growth. This role is likely to be particularly relevant for both fast-growing and shrinking firms. Process innovation appears instead to have less clear-cut dynamics, consistently with existing evidence. Among different types of process innovation, the introduction of novel auxiliary processes appears to be more positively linked with employment growth. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Employment growth, Dynamic panel methods, Quantile regression |
| Date: | 2016–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2016/37&r=tid |
| By: | Pedro Bento; Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | We consider a tractable model of heterogeneous production units that features endogenous entry and productivity investment to assess the quantitative impact of policy distortions on aggregate output and establishment size. Relative to the standard factor misallocation framework, policy distortions featuring a positive productivity elasticity of distortions imply larger reductions in output through smaller investments in establishment productivity. A calibrated version of the model implies that when the productivity elasticity of distortions increases from 0.09 in the U.S. to 0.5 in India, aggregate output and average establishment size fall by 53 and 86 percent, compared to 37 and 0 percent in the standard factor misallocation model. Entry productivity investment and factor misallocation contribute equally to the reduction in output, whereas the effect of lower life-cycle productivity growth is fully offset by increased entry and reduced productivity dispersion. Establishment size differences in the model are consistent with evidence from a comprehensive dataset we construct on average establishment size in manufacturing using census data for 134 countries. |
| Keywords: | misallocation, establishment size, productivity, investment, idiosyncratic distortions, life-cycle growth. |
| JEL: | O1 O4 |
| Date: | 2016–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-567&r=tid |
| By: | Vladimir Matveenko; Shamil Sharapudinov |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a cross-country analysis of trends in the skill premium and in the relative supply of high-skilled labor based on the data for 21 OECD countries over the last decades of the twentieth century. We document that, in contrast to the steadily increasing trends in the relative supply of high-skilled labor, the dynamics of the skill premium varies substantially across the countries. One of the main empirical findings of the paper is the evidence that both US and European countries experienced skill-biased rather than unskill-biased technological change. We also develop a new modification of the AcemogluÕs directed technological change model and show that such modification is helpful in explaining the skill premium patterns. |
| Keywords: | skill premium, factor-biased technological change, directed technological change |
| JEL: | J24 J30 J31 O30 O31 |
| Date: | 2016–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eus:wpaper:ec0516&r=tid |
| By: | Dorothea Schäfer (German Institute for Economic Research DIW Berlin); Andreas Stephan (Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using the Mannheim innovation panel, we investigate whether family firms have higher financial need and how this affects both innovation input and innovation outcomes such as firm or market novelties, or process innovation. Applying the CDM framework, we find that family firms are more likely to have a latent financial need for innovation, which means that they have innovation ideas which they have not implemented yet. We find that family firms have a significantly lower marginal innovation productivity in particular for innovations with radical character, i.e., market novelties. We conclude from this evidence that family firms have a comparative disadvantage in innovation projects that imply high risk and require high innovation capability. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Capability, Funding gaps, Financing Restrictions, Family Firms, CDM |
| JEL: | D21 D22 G31 O30 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsa:wpaper:wpc14&r=tid |
| By: | Renata Lemos; Daniela Scur |
| Abstract: | Family firms are the most prevalent type of firm in the world and account for a large proportion of the economic activity and employment, especially in developing countries. We consider firms to be “family controlled” when the founding family owns over 25% of shares and the CEO is a family member. In this paper we investigate the relationship between family control and firm organization and performance in the manufacturing sector of primarily emerging economies. To do this we collect a new detailed dataset of the succession history in terms of ownership (who owns the shares) as well as control (who is the CEO) for over 800 firms in Latin America, Africa and Europe. We merge this with a unique dataset on firm performance and organizational structures, including on quality of managerial practices. We exploit exogenous variation in the composition of the family CEO’s children, and use it as an instrumental variable for family ownership and control. Our results suggest that family-owned-and-controlled firms are worse managed, with coefficients being over twice larger under 2SLS than OLS. In general the negative link seems to stem from the family vs non-family control rather than simply family or non-family ownership. Firms owned by families but with non-family CEOs do not suffer from the deficit in management quality. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-29&r=tid |