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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Guillermo Arenas Díaz (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Andrés Barge-Gil (Department of Economic Analysis, Complutense University of Madrid, ICAE and GRIPICO, Madrid, Spain); Joost Heijs (Department of Applied Economics, Structure and History, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain); Alberto Marzucchi (Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences, L'Aquila, Italia) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of product innovations introduced by firms in upstream and downstream sectors and firms in the same sector on firm employment. To this aim, we extend the Harrison et al. (2014) model to analyse the relationship between firm innovation and employment to account for innovation in the same and related sectors. We employ panel data for the innovation activities of Spanish firms together with input–output data. The results show that product innovation by firms in the same sector harms the firm's employment, which is consistent with a business-stealing mechanism. A negative effect on employment is found for the introduction of new products in upstream sectors, which results in the reduction of labour in the focal firm. The type of labour that is displaced by innovations introduced by both same-sector and upstream firms is predominantly low-skilled. No significant effects are found for innovations introduced in downstream industries. |
| Keywords: | same sector, downstream and upstream sectors, product innovation, employment growth |
| JEL: | J23 O31 O33 L6 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0026&r= |
| By: | Cozzi, Guido |
| Abstract: | Shall vaccine patents be temporarily suspended? In a simple model, I reflect the essence of the debate on the Covid-19 patent waiver. The central message is that if the probability of imitating innovative vaccines is low, then a patent waiver would be harmless to future R&D. Conversely, a patent waiver would be undesirable if it is too easy to imitate future innovations. This paper also derives a simple policy rule for R&D subsidies that governments can use to correct the adverse effects of the waiver on the incentives to innovate. The vaccine industry is highly concentrated. While the social gains from successful imitation are huge, it is hard to transfer vaccine know-how from the handful of patent holders to potential imitators. In this environment, loosening intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection in a pandemic has significant macroeconomic advantages. Still, it may harm future innovation because it would create an expectation of future IPRs waivers. This paper allows an upbeat assessment of the conditions that make a patent waiver desirable, even considering the future R&D implications. Moreover, it shows how reasonably minimal rises of R&D subsidies can overcome the IPRs uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19; Research and Development; Vaccines; Intellectual; Health Economics; Property Rights. |
| JEL: | I1 I18 O3 O31 O32 O34 |
| Date: | 2022–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111990&r= |
| By: | Julia Mazzei; Tommaso Rughi; Maria Enrica Virgillito |
| Abstract: | The development of low emission vehicles (LEVs) in the automotive sector stands out in the literature as a typical case of technological competition between a dominant design and a set of alternative green technologies. The incremental trajectory of green technologies aimed at improving the efficiency of the internal combustion engine (ICEG) is competing with a radical trajectory targeted to the development of hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles (HEF). Exploiting a novel dataset of firm- and patent-level information retrieved from ORBIS-IP and containing USPTO patent applications between 2001 and 2018 in the automotive sector, we first cluster firms according to their relative patent share and degree of specialization in each trajectory, identifying a technological landscape in which they locate with distinct strategies. We then investigate the extent to which different stocks and combinations of knowledge might explain such heterogeneity in innovative efforts and positioning in the landscape. Our results suggest that a stock of ''brown'' knowledge closely related to ''green'' knowledge proves to be valuable for firm's success in each trajectory. Moreover, firms with a broad array of different knowledge sources are capable of reaching a leadership position in the technological landscape. |
| Keywords: | Low emission vehicles; relatedness; diversification; knowledge. |
| Date: | 2022–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/10&r= |
| By: | Anne Plunket (RITM - Réseaux Innovation Territoires et Mondialisation - UP11 - Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11); Felipe Starosta de Waldemar (RITM - Réseaux Innovation Territoires et Mondialisation - UP11 - Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of regional technological relatedness on the emergence of recombinant novelty (i.e. new combinations of subclasses occurring for the first time) in French regions using patent data over 1990-2010. We find that relatedness favors incremental innovations which reuse already applied combinations, whereas increasing levels of relatedness reduces the likelihood of novelty. However, the impact is less negative when combined technologies are new, unrelated or not locally specialized because it facilitates learning and technological recombination. We also find that universities and large incumbents are less dependent on relatedness than small and novel players to create novelty. |
| Keywords: | innovation,recombinant novelty,technological relatedness,Regional development |
| Date: | 2022–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03567051&r= |
| By: | Paula Prenzel; Niels Bosma; Veronique Schutjens; Erik Stam |
| Abstract: | A growing empirical literature has established a positive relationship between cultural diversity and entrepreneurship rates, often attributing this effect to innovative benefits of diversity. However, not all entrepreneurship is inherently innovative, raising the question of whether cultural diversity may increase the relative prevalence of entrepreneurs pursuing innovative instead of more replicative strategies. This study investigates the relationship between regional cultural diversity and the innovation-orientation of early-stage entrepreneurs and considers moderating factors by decomposing shares of foreign-born population by origin within and outside of the EU and by education level. Combining survey data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor with various measures of cultural diversity, we carry out a multilevel analysis for 166 European regions. The results suggest that entrepreneurs in more culturally diverse regions are significantly more likely to exhibit innovation-orientation. We find some evidence that this effect is supported by cognitive proximity as the share of EU-born foreign population is driving this result. Moreover, our analysis suggests that the effect of cultural diversity on innovative entrepreneurship is not due to human capital availability or moderated by entrepreneurs' absorptive capacity but rather stems from the diversity in cultural background itself. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, entrepreneurship, innovation, European regions, multilevel analysis |
| JEL: | F22 L26 O30 R1 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2205&r= |
| By: | Chih-Sheng Hsieh (Department of Economics, National Taiwan University); Michael D König (Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London); Xiaodong Liu (Department of Economics, University of Colorado Boulder); Christian Zimmermann (Department of Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of collaboration on research output. First, we build a micro-founded model for scientific knowledge production, where collaboration between researchers is represented by a bipartite network. The Nash equilibrium of the game incorporates both the complementarity effect between collaborating researchers and the substitutability effect between concurrent projects of the same researcher. Next, we propose a Bayesian MCMC procedure to estimate the structural parameters, taking into account the endogenous participation of researchers in projects. Finally, we illustrate the empirical relevance of the model by analyzing the coauthorship network of economists registered in the RePEc Author Service. The estimated complementarity and substitutability effects are both positive and significant when the endogenous matching between researchers and projects is controlled for, and are downward biased otherwise. To show the importance of correctly estimating the structural model in policy evaluation, we conduct a counterfactual analysis of research incentives. We find that the effectiveness of research incentives tends to be understated when the complementarity effect is ignored and overstated when the substitutability effect is ignored. |
| Keywords: | bipartite networks, coauthorship networks, research collaboration, spillovers, economics of science |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ntw:wpaper:2202&r= |
| By: | Emmanuelle AURIOL; Sara BIANCINI; Rodrigo PAILLACAR |
| Abstract: | The paper proposes an empirical analysis of the determinants of the adoption of intellectual property rights (IPR) and their impact on innovation in manufacturing. The analysis is conducted with panel data covering 112 countries. First, we show that IPR enforcement is U-shaped in a country's market size relative to the aggregated market size of its trade partners. Second, reinforcing IPR protection reduces on-the-frontier and inside-the-frontier innovation in developing countries, without necessarily increasing innovation at the global level. |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2022–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avg:wpaper:en13792&r= |
| By: | Nomaler, Önder; Spinola, Danilo; Verspagen, Bart |
| Abstract: | This article models the process of structural transformation and catching-up in a demand-led Southern economy constrained by its balance of payments. Starting from the Sraffian Supermultiplier Model, we model a dual-sector small open economy divided between traditional and modern sectors that interacts with a technologically advanced Northern economy. We propose two (alternative) autonomous elements that define the growth rate of this demand-led economy: government spending and exports. Autonomous government spending plays a central role in stimulating demand, and thus is a source of growth of the modern sector. Productivity adjusts to the growth rate of output, given by the growth rate of autonomous expenditure. Drawing from the Structuralist literature, the technologically laggard Southern economy catches up by absorbing technology from the Northern economy, potentially closing the technology gap. The gap affects the income elasticity of exports, bringing a supply-side mediation to the growth rates in line with the Balance of Payments Constrained Model. We observe that a demand-led government policy plays a central role in structural change, pushing the modern sector to a take-off. Also, the economy is stable in terms of capacity utilisation and modern sector employment. |
| Keywords: | Industrialisation; Catching-up; Balance of Payments; Sraffian Supermultiplier |
| Date: | 2022–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:akf:cafewp:18&r= |