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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Silje Haus-Reve; Rune Dahl Fitjar; Andres Rodriguez-Pose; |
| Abstract: | Implicitly or explicitly, much innovation policy treats investments in research and development (R&D) as the main input to innovation. A large body of literature in innovation studies has challenged this, highlighting the role of external sources of innovation and of innovation based on learning by doing, using and interacting (DUI). Nonetheless, there has been limited empirical research on how firm-internal activities to promote DUI affect innovation, and on how important such activities are relative to internal R&D and to external sources of knowledge. We also know little about how internal DUI activities interact with internal R&D and with external knowledge sourcing. We address these gaps using Norwegian Community Innovation Survey data from 2010. We find that internal DUI is an important driver of new-to-market product innovation. Further, the results show partial substitution effects between internal DUI and internal R&D, as well as between internal DUI and external DUI. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Experience-based knowledge; STI; DUI; Firms |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2222&r=tid |
| By: | Blind, Knut; Niebel, Crispin Miles; Rammer, Christian |
| Abstract: | In May 2018, a new regulation by the European Commission on data protection came into force, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It requires many firms to update their data protection strategy. It may also complicate different types of data usage, particularly related to data on individuals. In the literature, there is little evidence and no consensus on whether this new privacy regulation is beneficial or detrimental to innovation. This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of the GDPR on innovation activities in firms. Exploiting panel data from the German innovation survey, a difference-in-difference analysis shows that the GDPR stimulated additional innovation activity while shifting the focus of innovation away from radical and towards more incremental innovation. This holds for both firms that report that the GDPR complicated their innovation efforts, and for the much smaller group of firms that report that the GDPR facilitated their innovation activities. Finally, larger and older firms experience higher increases in their turnover with incremental innovation compared to smaller and younger firms. |
| Keywords: | General Data Protection Regulation,Innovation,Community Innovation Survey,Difference-in-difference estimation |
| JEL: | O31 O38 C22 L51 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22047&r=tid |
| By: | Hussingera, Katrin; Issahd, Wunnam |
| Abstract: | Family firms are known for their reluctance to invest in research and development. We show that strengthened trade secret protection is associated with higher R&D investment by family firms. More specifically, we show that the association between the strength of trade secret protection through the U.S. Uniform Trade Secrets Act and R&D investment is positively moderated by family control. Our results further show that the positive moderation of family control on the association between the strength of trade secret protection and R&D investment varies with the industry context, being stronger in high tech industries and weaker in discrete product industries. |
| Keywords: | Family firms,intellectual property protection,trade secret protection,UTSA,R&Dinvestment,socioemotional wealth |
| JEL: | O34 O32 G32 M14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22039&r=tid |
| By: | De Haas, Ralph (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, CEPR and KU Leuven); Sterk, Vincent (University College London and CEPR); Van Horen, Neeltje (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | Can policymakers improve macroeconomic performance by encouraging the entry of high‑performance start‑ups? To answer this question, we construct a novel and comprehensive data set on 1.3 million start‑ups in 10 European countries. We apply cluster analysis to identify distinct start‑up types and trace their development over time. Three stylised facts transpire. First, we uncover five well‑separated start‑up types that are consistently present across countries, industries, and cohorts. We label these basic, large, capital‑intensive, cash‑intensive, and high‑leverage. Second, the initial differences between these start‑up types are persistent. Third, each start‑up type displays a characteristic life cycle in terms of productivity, employment generation, and exit rates. We feed these empirical results into an agnostic firm dynamics model to quantify how much structural policy could improve macroeconomic performance by shifting the composition of start‑ups. We find that substantial gains in aggregate employment and productivity can be made through policies that benefit high‑performance start‑ups (such as large and capital‑intensive ones) while discouraging the entry of underperforming firms (such as highly leveraged ones). |
| Keywords: | Start‑ups; firm entry; productivity; corporate tax; entrepreneurship; cluster analysis. |
| JEL: | D22 D24 G32 L11 L25 L26 O47 |
| Date: | 2022–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0986&r=tid |
| By: | Karmakar, Sudipto (Bank of England); Melolinna, Marko (Bank of England); Schnattinger, Philip (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of different types of investment and levels of debt on productivity in the UK, using firm-level data. We set out a stylised model of a dynamic firm profit-maximisation problem, and augment this model with an external financing option in a novel way. We use the model to illustrate why productivity-enhancing investment differs from other uses of company funds in terms of its effects on total factor productivity (TFP), and how these positive effects can be stronger for firms that have higher indebtedness. We then examine the issue empirically with data on listed firms in the UK. Our main finding is that intangibles investment are a good proxy for productivity-enhancing investment, as they have a positive effect on TFP, and in those firms that have high debt and high levels of intangibles, these effects are even more pronounced. On the other hand, we find no consistent evidence of positive TFP effects for other uses of funds, like tangible capital expenditure or dividends and equity buybacks. The effects of debt on TFP are smaller and more tenuous, but we find no evidence of a negative TFP effect of debt in firms that have high levels of intangibles intensity. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic programming; firm-level productivity; intangible assets; panel regression |
| JEL: | C61 D22 D24 O30 |
| Date: | 2022–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0992&r=tid |
| By: | Nelson Lind; Natalia Ramondo |
| Abstract: | We study the global innovation and diffusion of ideas by introducing trade into the model in Eaton and Kortum (1999) (EK). This extension allows us to use international trade flows and country-level factor costs to estimate both the intensity of innovation within countries over time and diffusion rates across countries. We find significant specialization across the globe: some countries have high innovation rates, while other countries rely on diffusion. Although innovation is correlated with economic growth, there are many high income countries that primarily produce using diffused ideas. Additionally, these patterns shift over time — we estimate that a wave of innovation began in China during the early-2000’s, reducing its reliance on diffused technology. |
| JEL: | F1 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30590&r=tid |
| By: | G. Jacob Blackwood; Cindy Cunningham; Matthew Dey; Lucia S. Foster; Cheryl Grim; John C. Haltiwanger; Rachel L. Nesbit; Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia; Jay Stewart; Cody Tuttle; Zoltan Wolf |
| Abstract: | An important gap in most empirical studies of establishment-level productivity is the limited information about workers’ characteristics and their tasks. Skill-adjusted labor input measures have been shown to be important for aggregate productivity measurement. Moreover, the theoretical literature on differences in production technologies across businesses increasingly emphasizes the task content of production. Our ultimate objective is to open this black box of tasks and skills at the establishment-level by combining establishment-level data on occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) with a restricted-access establishment-level productivity dataset created by the BLS-Census Bureau Collaborative Micro-productivity Project. We take a first step toward this objective by exploring the conceptual, specification, and measurement issues to be confronted. We provide suggestive empirical analysis of the relationship between within-industry dispersion in productivity and tasks and skills. We find that within-industry productivity dispersion is strongly positively related to within-industry task/skill dispersion. |
| JEL: | C81 E23 O33 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30620&r=tid |
| By: | Florenta Teodoridis; Jino Lu; Jeffrey L. Furman |
| Abstract: | Understanding factors affecting the direction of innovation is a central aim of research in the economics of innovation. Progress on this topic has been inhibited by difficulties in measuring distance and movement in knowledge space. We describe a methodology that infers the mapping of the knowledge landscape based on text documents. The approach is based on an unassisted machine learning technique, Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP), which flexibly identifies patterns in text corpora. The resulting mapping of the knowledge landscape enables calculations of distance and movement, measures that are valuable in several contexts for research in innovation. We benchmark and demonstrate the benefits of this approach in the context of 44 years of USPTO data. |
| JEL: | C55 C80 O3 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30603&r=tid |
| By: | Arianna Martinelli; Julia Mazzei |
| Abstract: | Increasing evidence indicates that a large share of granted patents are ''undeserved'' because they do not meet the criteria of novelty or non-obviousness. In recent decades, many jurisdictions introduced patent reforms to avoid weak patent applications and improve legal patent quality. In particular, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), enacted into law in 2011, introduced the post-grant validity challenge at the United States Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO). This procedure allows any third party to question granted patents, possibly leading to patent revocation or scope reduction. This paper aims to provide evidence of the impact of such policy change on the legal quality of the patent system. To identify the policy effect we exploit the fact that the same invention is patented in different legislation and that not all of them have post-grant review procedures. In particular, we compare the same patent filed at the USPTO and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). In this setting, we apply standard Diff-in-Diff analysis to estimate the effect of the post-grant validity challenge on the patent scope. Our results indicate that the AIA reform contributed to a reduction of U.S. patent scope in the last decade, indeed increasing the legal quality of the patent system. |
| Keywords: | Patent opposition; patent quality; policy evaluation; patent scope. |
| Date: | 2022–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/34&r=tid |
| By: | Rogers, Parker |
| Abstract: | How does FDA regulation affect innovation and market concentration? I examine this question by exploiting FDA deregulation events that affected certain medical device types but not others. I use text analysis to gather comprehensive data on medical device innovation, device safety, firm entry, prices, and regulatory changes. My analysis of these data yields three core results. First, these deregulation events significantly increase the quantity and quality of new technologies in affected medical device types relative to control groups. These increases are particularly strong among small and inexperienced firms. Second, these events increase firm entry and lower the prices of medical procedures that use affected medical device types. Third, the rates of serious injuries and deaths attributable to defective devices do not increase measurably after these events. Perhaps counterintuitively, deregulating certain device types lowers adverse event rates significantly, consistent with firms increasing their emphasis on product safety as deregulation exposes them to more litigation. |
| Date: | 2022–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:c8s3m&r=tid |
| By: | Maria Aristizabal-Ramirez; John V. Leahy; Linda Tesar |
| Abstract: | This paper is motivated by a set of cross-country observations on growth, structural transformation, and investment rates in a large sample of countries. We observe a hump-shaped relationship between a country's investment rate and its level of development, both within countries over time and across countries. Advanced economies reach their investment peak at a higher level of income and at an earlier point in time relative to emerging markets. We also observe the familiar patterns of structural change (a decline in the agricultural share and an increase in the services share, both relative to manufacturing). The pace of change observed in the 1930 to 1980 period in advanced economies is remarkably similar to that in emerging markets since 1960. We develop a two-region model of the world economy in which regions are isolated from each other up to the point of capital market liberalization in the early 1990s. At that point, capital flows from advanced economies to emerging markets and accelerates the process of structural change in emerging markets. The majority of gains from financial liberalization accrue to emerging economies. We consider the impact of a “second wave” of liberalization when China fully opens its economy to capital inflows. |
| JEL: | E2 F62 O10 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30584&r=tid |
| By: | Fabio Montobbio; Jacopo Staccioli; Maria Enrica Virgillito; Marco Vivarelli |
| Abstract: | What have we learned, from the most recent years of debate and analysis, of the future of work being threatened by technology? This paper presents a critical review of the empirical literature and outlines both lessons learned and challenges ahead. Far from being fully exhaustive, the review intends to highlight common findings and main differences across economic studies. According to our reading of the literature, a few challenges-and also the common factors affecting heterogeneous outcomes across studies-still stand, including (i) the variable used as a proxy for technology, (ii) the level of aggregation of the analyses, (iii) the deep heterogeneity of different types of technologies and their adopted mix, (iv) the structural differences across adopters, and (v) the actual combination of the organisational practices in place at the establishment level in affecting net job creation/destruction and work reorganisation. |
| Keywords: | Technology; Employment; Skills; Occupations; Tasks; Future of Work. |
| Date: | 2022–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/35&r=tid |
| By: | Nikolova, Milena; Cnossen, Femke; Nikolaev. Boris |
| Abstract: | We are the first to examine the impact of robotization on work meaningfulness and autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are key for motivation and human flourishing at work. Using worker-level data from 13 industries in 20 European countries and OLS and instrumental variables estimations, we find that industry-level robotization harms all work quality aspects except competence. We also examine the moderating role of routine and cognitive tasks, skills and education, and age and gender. While we do not find evidence of moderation concerning work meaningfulness in any of our models, noteworthy differences emerge for autonomy. For instance, workers with repetitive and monotonous tasks drive the negative effects of robotization on autonomy, while social tasks and working with computers - a tool that provides worker independence - help workers derive autonomy and competence in industries and jobs that adopt robots. In addition, robotization increases the competence perceptions of men. Our results highlight that by deteriorating the opportunities to derive meaning and self-determination out of work, robotization will impact the present and the future of work above and beyond its consequences for employment and wages. |
| Keywords: | work meaningfulness,self-determination theory,robotization,automation |
| JEL: | J01 J30 J32 J81 I30 I31 M50 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1191&r=tid |