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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Eric Bartelsman (VU University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands and IZA Bonn); Eva Hagsten (University of Iceland, Iceland); Michael Polder (Statistics Netherlands, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides technical documentation to a database built up from firm-level sources titled Micro moments database(MMD) that is made available for researchers through Eurostat. The MMD is an internationally harmonized research database of statistical moments collected from linked longitudinal firm-level data in a large selection of EU national statistical offices. The underlying sources for the database are business registers, firm-level surveys on production, usage of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and innovative activities, as well as recorded information on trade and worker education, all linked at the firm level. The unit of observation in the MMD represents groups of firms within industries and allows research that bridges micro and macro analysis. The paper delineates the type of research questions that uniquely can be addressed with the MMD, and the advantages and disadvantages of using MMD for questions where alternative datasets are available. The paper next presents the methodology underlying construction of the MMD and provides documentation of the rich set of features. Finally, the paper provides descriptive statistics that highlight the unique character of the data and reviews some of the cross-country analytical work already conducted using the MMD. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, ICT, Productivity, Intangible Investment, linked firm-level datasets |
| JEL: | D2 E2 F1 J2 L2 O3 |
| Date: | 2017–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170003&r=tid |
| By: | Ohnemus, Jörg; Niebel, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Cloud computing is widely seen as a new source of innovation as well as a driving factor of productivity improvements of firms. This paper analyses the determinants of cloud computing adoption in general as well as for specific deployment (Public vs. Private) and service models (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS). Our data set contains a representative sample of 2,970 German firms and refers to the years 2014 and 2015. The econometric analysis confirms our three main hypothesis regarding firms' decision to adopt cloud computing in general. The share of workers with mobile internet access, being a start-up, as well as the regional availability of high-speed fixed-line internet access increase the likelihood of a firm for using cloud computing services. |
| Keywords: | Adoption of ICT,Cloud Computing,Multivariate Probit |
| JEL: | L10 L86 O33 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse16:148694&r=tid |
| By: | Daniel A Dias; Christine J. Richmond; Carlos Robalo Marques |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical studies document that the level of resource misallocation in the service sector is significantly higher than in the manufacturing sector. We quantify the importance of this difference and study its sources. Conservative estimates for Portugal (2008) show that closing this gap, by reducing misallocation in the service sector to manufacturing levels, would boost aggregate gross output by around 12 percent and aggregate value added by around 31 percent. Differences in the effect and size of productivity shocks explain most of the gap in misallocation between manufacturing and services, while the remainder is explained by differences in firm productivity and age distribution. We interpret these results as stemming mainly from higher output price rigidity, greater labor adjustment costs and more informality in the service sector. |
| Keywords: | Labor markets;Portugal;Services;Manufacturing sector;Capital;Developed countries;Total factor productivity;Econometric models;Misallocation, productivity, firm-level data, structural transformation, Gelbach decomposition |
| Date: | 2016–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/220&r=tid |
| By: | Matteo Fiorini; Bernard Hoekman; Clément Malgouyres |
| Abstract: | The performance of services sectors can have significant impacts on industries that use services as intermediate inputs. In this paper we complement the literature analyzing the productivity effects of services trade policies by investigating the relationship between services policy reforms and employment in manufacturing industries. Using a panel of sector-level data for 24 transition economies for the 1990-2012 period, we find find that moving towards best practice services policies is associated with an economically significant reduction of manufacturing employment. This negative effect is mitigated or disappears for countries with high levels of economic governance and human capital. The decline in manufacturing employment is observed only in the first decade of transition, with the major driver being reforms in the utilities sector. The estimated negative effect of policy reforms is of a contemporaneous nature; it does not persist along the lag structure. |
| Keywords: | services policy, employment, transition economies |
| JEL: | F16 F66 J23 P21 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2016/46&r=tid |
| By: | Piva, Mariacristina (Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy); Tani, Massimiliano (UNSW Canberra, Australia, and IZA, Bonn); Vivarelli, Marco (UNU-MERIT, IZA, Bonn, and Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the productivity impact of business visits, relative to traditional drivers of productivity enhancement, namely capital formation and R&D. To carry out the analysis, we combine unique and novel data on business visits sourced from the U.S. National Business Travel Association with OECD data on R&D and capital formation. The resulting unbalanced panel covers on average 16 sectors per year in 10 countries during the period 1998-2011 (2,262 observations). Our results suggest that mobility through business visits is an effective mechanism to improve productivity. The estimated effect is about half as large as investing in R&D, supporting viewing business visits as a form of long-term investment rather than pure consumption expenditure. In a nutshell, our outcomes support the need to recognise the private and social value of business mobility. |
| Keywords: | Business visits, labour mobility, knowledge, R&D, productivity |
| JEL: | O32 O33 O34 J24 D83 |
| Date: | 2017–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2017004&r=tid |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam; McKenzie, David J. |
| Abstract: | We use regression discontinuity to measure the impact of funding from Poland's In-Tech program on innovation activities carried out by consortia of firms and research entities. A detailed follow-up survey of applicants enables us to measure a wider variety of outcomes than typically used in the literature. We find the grants increase the probability of a project being completed by almost 60 percentage points, lead to more science-industry collaboration, and increase the probability of patents and publications related to the proposed project. We also find early effects on commercialization of products related to the proposed project. |
| Keywords: | innovation; R&D; regression discontinuity design; science-industry collaboration |
| JEL: | H25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11765&r=tid |
| By: | Pekkala Kerr, Sari; Kerr, William R. |
| Abstract: | We study the prevalence and traits of global collaborative patents for U.S. public companies, where the inventor team is located both within and outside of the United States. Collaborative patents are frequently observed when a corporation is entering into a new foreign region for innovative work, especially in settings where intellectual property protection is weak. We also connect collaborative patents to the ethnic composition of the firm s U.S. inventors and cross-border mobility of inventors within the firm. The inventor team composition has important consequences for how the new knowledge is exploited within and outside of the firm. |
| JEL: | O32 F02 F22 F23 F60 J15 O19 O3 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2017–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofrdp:2017_003&r=tid |
| By: | Georg Graetz; Guy Michaels |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1990s, recoveries from recessions in the US have been plagued by weak employment growth. One possible explanation for these "jobless" recoveries is rooted in technological change: middle-skill jobs, often involving routine tasks, are lost during recessions, and the displaced workers take time to transition into other jobs (Jaimovich and Siu, 2014). But technological replacement of middle-skill workers is not unique to the US—it also takes place in other developed countries (Goos, Manning, and Salomons, 2014). So if jobless recoveries in the US are due to technology, we might expect to also see them elsewhere in the developed world. We test this possibility using data on recoveries from 71 recessions in 28 industries and 17 countries from 1970-2011. We find that though GDP recovered more slowly after recent recessions, employment did not. Industries that used more routine tasks, and those more exposed to robotization, did not recently experience slower employment recoveries. Finally, middle-skill employment did not recover more slowly after recent recessions, and this pattern was no different in routine-intensive industries. Taken together, this evidence suggests that technology is not causing jobless recoveries in developed countries outside the US. |
| Keywords: | job polarization, jobless recoveries, routine-biased technological change, robots |
| JEL: | E32 J23 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1461&r=tid |
| By: | Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Martinsson, Gustav (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Mohammadi, Ali (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This report discusses how financing difficulties can affect private sector innovation investments in environmental technology applied to the Swedish setting. Innovative investments are often intangible, the outcomes are highly uncertain, and information asymmetries between entrepreneurs and outside investors are potentially severe. These factors make external finance costly and drive investment in environmental technology below its socially desirable level. Recent evidence from the literature on financing and innovation suggests that financing constraints on innovation are likely economically significant. Therefore, policies and financial developments that affect the availability of finance can have important effects on economy wide rates of environmental technology innovation. |
| Keywords: | Clean technology; Innovation Investments; Financial constraints; Spillovers; Sustainable growth |
| JEL: | O32 O33 Q55 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0445&r=tid |
| By: | Gobillon, Laurent; Wolff, François-Charles |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect on quality, quantity and prices of an innovative fishing gear introduced for a subsample of vessels on a single wholesale fish market in France. Estimations are conducted using transaction data over the 2009-2011 period during which the innovation was introduced. Using a difference-in-differences approach around the discontinuity, we find that for the treated the innovation has a large effect on quality (29.2 percentage points) and prices (23.2 percentage points). A shift in caught fish species is observed and new targeted species are fished very intensively. We also quantify the treatment effect on the treated market from aggregate market data using factor models and a synthetic control approach. We find a sizable effect of the innovation on market quality which is consistent with non-treated vessels adapting their fishing practices to remain competitive. The innovation has no effect on market quantities and prices. |
| Keywords: | difference in differences; discontinuity; factor models; fish; innovation; product prices; product quality; synthetic controls |
| JEL: | L11 Q22 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11757&r=tid |
| By: | Wixe, Sofia (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), Jönköping International Business School, Sweden); Nilsson, Pia (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), Jönköping International Business School, Swede); Naldi, Lucia (Centre for Family Enterprise and Ownership (CeFEO ), Jönköping International Business School, Sweden); Westlund, Hans (Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), Jönköping International Business School, & KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | This paper applies unique survey data on innovation and external interaction of small food producers in Sweden. The overall purpose is to test if firms that are more engaged in external interaction are more innovative. To disentangle innovativeness beyond new goods and services, innovation is measured as new processes, new markets, new suppliers, new ways of organization, and new distributors. Findings point to a positive relationship between firm innovation and external interaction, both in terms of collaboration, external knowledge and support from regional actors. In particular, collaboration regarding transports and sales is shown to enhance most types of innovation. Product and process innovation benefit from external knowledge from extra-regional firms as well as regional support from the largest firm. Findings suggest that current innovation policies can improve their efficiency by increasing their flexibility to enable tailor-made innovation policies at the local level. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; collaboration; food industry; rural regions |
| JEL: | L25 L66 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0446&r=tid |