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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Dirk Czarnitzki (KU Leuven, Belgium); Katrin Hussinger (CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of public R&D subsidies on R&D input and output of German firms. We distinguish between the direct impact of subsidies on R&D investments and the indirect effect on innovation output measured by patent applications. We disentangle the productivity of purely privately financed R&D and additional R&D investment induced by the public incentive scheme. For this, a treatment effect analysis is conducted in a first step. The results are implemented into the estimation of a patent production function in a second step. It turns out that both purely privately financed R&D and publicly induced R&D show a positive effect on patent outcome. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Subsidies, Patents, Treatment Effects |
| JEL: | C14 C30 H23 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:17-12&r=tid |
| By: | Tavassoli, Sam (RMIT University); Karlsson, Charlie (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of regional context on innovation persistency of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced firms’ innovative behaviour from 2002 to 2012, in terms of four Schumpeterian types of innovation: product, process, organizational, and marketing. Employing transition probability matrix and dynamic Probit model and controlling for an extensive set of firm-level characteristics, we find that certain regional characteristics matter for innovation persistency of firms. In particular, those firms located in regions with (i) thicker labour market or (ii) higher extent of knowledge spillover exhibit higher probability of being persistent innovators up to 14 percentage points. Such higher persistency is mostly pronounced for product innovators. |
| Keywords: | location; innovation; persistence; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; firms; Community Inno¬vation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2017–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2017_011&r=tid |
| By: | MIYAGAWA Tsutomu; EDAMURA Kazuma; KAWAKAMI Atsushi |
| Abstract: | In endogenous growth models and mid-term business cycles as seen in the works of Romer (1987) and Comin and Gertler (2006), it is assumed that there are positive effects of product variety. Using product-firm level data, we examine these effects empirically. Using data from the Census of Manufacture, the Survey of Research and Development (R&D), and the Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities, we construct a database that includes number of products, R&D expenditures, and data on firm performance. We find that the number of products in R&D firms is higher than that of non-R&D firms, and that R&D firms are more sensitive than non-R&D firms for product dynamics. In the Poisson regression model, we also observe positive effects of R&D activities on product dynamics in empirical studies. As the increase in product variety contributes to productivity growth, our empirical results support the government's policies for enhancing R&D activities. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17101&r=tid |
| By: | Albrecht Glitz; Eric Meyersson |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the economic returns to industrial espionage by linking information from East Germany’s foreign intelligence service to sector-specific gaps in total factor productivity (TFP) between West and East Germany. Based on a dataset that comprises the entire flow of information provided by East German informants over the period 1970-1989, we document a significant narrowing of sectoral West-to-East TFP gaps as a result of East Ger- many’s industrial espionage. This central finding holds across a wide range of specifications and is robust to the inclusion of several alternative proxies for technology transfer. We further demonstrate that the economic returns to industrial espionage are primarily driven by rela- tively few high quality pieces of information and particularly strong in sectors that were closer to the West German technological frontier. Based on our findings, we estimate that the average TFP gap between West and East Germany at the end of the Cold War would have been 6.3 percentage points larger had the East not engaged in industrial espionage. |
| Keywords: | espionage, Productivity, R&D, technology diffusion |
| JEL: | D24 F52 N34 N44 O30 O47 P26 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:982&r=tid |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Asongu, Ndemaze |
| Abstract: | This study explores a new dataset in order to present the comparative determinants of growth quality in 93 developing countries for the period 1990-2011. We employ both cross-sectional and panel estimation techniques with contemporary and non-contemporary specifications. The determinants are quite heterogeneous in significance and magnitude with substantial inclinations to specifications and estimation techniques. We present and discuss the findings in increasing magnitude of significance so as to ease comparative readability. We also discuss how specificities in the modelling techniques are relevant for targeting growth quality. The results are timely and relevant for the post-2015 inclusive and sustainable development agenda. |
| Keywords: | Quality of growth; Development |
| JEL: | I10 I20 I32 O40 O57 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80650&r=tid |
| By: | Yasser Abdih; Stephan Danninger |
| Abstract: | The U.S. labor share of income has been on a secular downward trajectory since the beginning of the new millennium. Using data that are disaggregated across both state and industry, we show the decline in the labor share is broad-based but the extent of the fall varies greatly. Exploiting a new data set on the task characteristics of occupations, the U.S. input-output tables, and the Current Population Survey, we find that in addition to changes in labor institutions, technological change and different forms of trade integration lowered the labor share. In particular, the fall was largest, on average, in industries that saw: a high initial intensity of “routinizable” occupations; steep declines in unionization; a high level of competition from imports; and a high intensity of foreign input usage. Quantitatively, we find that the bulk of the effect comes from changes in technology that are linked to the automation of routine tasks, followed by trade globalization. |
| Date: | 2017–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:17/167&r=tid |
| By: | Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Birkeneder, Antonia; Rodriguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | "This paper examines the link between the endowment of creative and science based STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - workers and the level of the firm and firm- and city-/regional-level innovation in Germany. It also looks into whether the presence of these two groups of workers has greater benefits for larger cities than smaller locations, thus justifying policies to attract these workers in order to make German cities 'smarter'. The empirical analysis is based on a probit estimation, covering 115,000 plant-level observations between 1998 and 2015. The results highlight that firms that employ creative and STEM workers are more innovative than those that do not. However, the positive connection of creative workers to innovation is limited to the boundaries of the firm, whereas that of STEM workers is as associated to the generation of considerable innovation spillovers. Hence, attracting STEM workers is more likely to end up making German cities smarter than focusing exclusively on creative workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2017–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201724&r=tid |
| By: | Ilya B. Voskoboynikov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recent decades have been years of intensive growth, structural change and expanding informality for many developing and emerging economies. However, in exploring the relationship between structural change and productivity growth, most empirical studies ignored informality. This paper explores how structural change in the Russian economy 1995–2012 affects aggregate labour productivity growth, taking into account the informal sector. Using a newly developed dataset for 34 industries and applying three alternative approaches aggregate labour productivity growth is decomposed into intra-industry and inter-industry contributions. All three approaches show that the overall contribution of structural change is growth enhancing, significant, and dumped in time. In turn, labour reallocation between the formal and informal sectors is growth reducing because of the extension of informal activities with low productivity levels. At the same time, sectoral labour reallocation effects are found to be highly sensitive to the methods. |
| Keywords: | labour productivity, structural change, informal economy, Russia |
| JEL: | O11 O17 C82 N14 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:168/ec/2017&r=tid |
| By: | Guschanski, Alexander; Onaran, Özlem |
| Abstract: | This article presents an econometric analysis of the wage share in seven emerging economies. We focus on the effect of globalisation, captured by participation in global value chains and financial integration, indicators of bargaining power of labour and technological change on the wage share. We use input-output tables that allow us to obtain detailed measures of global value chain participation, and sectoral data to distinguish the effect on high- and low-skilled workers and within manufacturing and service industries. We find a negative effect of offshoring from advanced to emerging economies, as well as negative effects of financial integration. Our findings suggest that the transmission mechanism is a reduction in labours’ bargaining power vis-à-vis capital. We find a robust positive effect of union density on the wage share but no evidence of a negative effect of technological change. |
| Keywords: | wage share; income distribution; emerging economies; global value chains; union density; technological change; |
| JEL: | E25 J50 |
| Date: | 2017–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gpe:wpaper:17536&r=tid |
| By: | Daniel Garcia-Macia |
| Abstract: | Why did the Great Recession lead to such a slow recovery? I build a model where heterogeneous firms invest in physical and intangible capital, and can default on their debt. In case of default, intangible assets are harder to seize by creditors. Hence, intangible capital faces higher financing costs. This differential is exacerbated in a financial crisis, when default is more likely and aggregate risk bears a higher premium. The resulting fall in intangible investment amplifies the crisis, and gradual intangible spillovers to other firms contribute to its persistence. Using panel data on Spanish manufacturing firms, I estimate the model matching firm-level moments regarding intangibles and financing. The model captures the extent and components of the Great Recession in Spanish manufacturing, whereas a standard model without endogenous intangible investment would miss more than half of the GDP fall. A policy of transfers conditional on firm age could speed up the recovery, as young firms tend to be more financially constrained, particularly regarding intangible investment. Conditioning transfers on firm size or subsidizing credit (as in current E.U. policy) appears to be less effective. |
| Date: | 2017–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:17/176&r=tid |
| By: | OKUBO Toshihiro; Alexander F. WAGNER; YAMADA Kazuo |
| Abstract: | We employ a comprehensive database of Japanese manufacturing firms, covering up to 220,000 firm-year observations, to examine the role that ownership structure plays in explaining differences in export and innovation decisions of firms. Firms with higher foreign ownership are more export-oriented and engage more in innovation. This result holds controlling for differences in incentive structures (the use of stock options, which themselves are also associated with more export and innovation activities) and is robust to the use of an instrument exploiting peer effects with regard to foreign ownership. We also show that pre-World War II differences in cognitive skills and non-cognitive characteristics (attitudes) still explain modern-day, cross-prefecture differences in firm choices. Overall, our results suggest that both firm-internal corporate governance and the employee pool from which a company can draw upon can play an important role for the export and innovation activity of firms. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:17099&r=tid |
| By: | Christian Fons-Rosen; Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan; Bent E. Sorensen; Carolina Villegas-Sanchez; Vadym Volosovych |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on total factor productivity (TFP) of domestic firms using a new, representative firm-level data set spanning six countries. A novel finding is that firm-level spillovers from foreign firms to domestic companies can be significantly positive, non-existent, or even negative, depending on which sectors receive FDI. When foreign firms produce in the same narrow sector as domestic firms, the latter are negatively affected by increasing competition and positively affected by knowledge spillovers. We find that the positive spillovers dominate if foreign firms enter sectors where firms are “technologically close,” controlling for the endogeneity of their entry decision into such sectors. Positive technology spillovers also affect firms in other sectors, if those sectors are technologically close to the sectors receiving FDI. Increasing FDI in sectors that are technologically close to other sectors boosts TFP of domestic firms by twice as much as increasing FDI by the same amount across all sectors. |
| JEL: | E32 F15 F36 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23643&r=tid |