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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Nicoletta Corrocher; Simone Maria Grabner; Andrea Morrison |
| Abstract: | To promote a more environmentally sustainable economy, countries need to broaden their innovation activities to include green technologies. In this process, the increasing global interconnectedness and internationalisation of innovative activities underlines the growing importance of external knowledge linkages. This paper examines how different categories of countries - technological leaders, catching-up countries and follower countries - diversify into green technologies by exploiting different types of external linkages through co-inventions with international partners. The dataset covers 49 countries over a period of 40 years. The results show that it is complementary linkages, rather than external linkages alone, that facilitate related diversification in the green sector. Moreover, while complementary linkages have a significant impact on the ability of catching-up countries and followers to diversify into less complex and widely diffused green technologies, the diversification pattern of leaders is more oriented towards complex technologies in their early stages. Therefore, green technology development policies should actively promote international cooperation as it has the potential to catalyse green catching-up and foster sustainable growth. |
| Keywords: | technological diversification, green technologies, co-inventor linkages, relatedness, catching-up |
| JEL: | O33 Q55 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2404&r=tid |
| By: | Cahuc, Pierre (Sciences Po, Paris); Palladino, Marco G. (Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a review of the existing literature on the effects of employment protection legislation (EPL) on job allocation across industries, firms, and workers, and its implications for innovation and economic growth. We analyze empirical studies to assess how EPL influences resource allocation, firm dynamics, and labor market segmentation. The review highlights the heterogeneous effects of EPL on different firms and workers' groups. Additionally, we discuss the channels identified in the structural literature through which EPL-induced job reallocation affects productivity, innovation, and overall growth. While existing evidence demonstrates the significant influence of EPL on all these outcomes, further quantification of these effects remains a research challenge. |
| Keywords: | job protection, job allocation, economic growth, productivity, innovation |
| JEL: | J23 O47 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16747&r=tid |
| By: | Arntz, Melanie (ZEW Mannheim); Genz, Sabrina (Utrecht University); Gregory, Terry (LISER); Lehmer, Florian (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Zierahn-Weilage, Ulrich (Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extent to which aggregate-level de-routinization can be attributed to firm-level technology adoption during the most recent technological expansion. We use administrative data and a novel firm survey to distinguish frontier technologies from older technologies. We find that adopters of frontier technologies contribute substantially to deroutinization. However, this is driven only by a subset of these firms: large adopters replace routine jobs and less routine-intensive adopters experience faster growth. These scale and composition effects reflect firms' readiness to adopt and implement frontier technologies. Our results suggest that an acceleration of technology adoption would be associated with faster de-routinization and an increase in between-firm heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | technology, automation, tasks, capital-labor substitution, decomposition |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16740&r=tid |
| By: | Kaufmann, Matteo; Schiereck, Dirk |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of corporate innovation on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Using a sample of 786 public-to-public transactions in the U.S. technology sector, we show that acquirers are willing to pay higher premiums for more innovative target firms. This effect is amplified by the acquirer's own level of innovativeness as more innovative acquirers are willing to pay higher premiums for innovative targets than non-innovative acquirers. We further document significant strategic reactions of rival firms. In the aftermath of the M&A, all acquirer rivals increase their R&D spending but the effect is more pronounced for innovative rivals than for non-innovative ones. Innovative acquirer rivals are also more likely to acquire a technology firm in the aftermath of their competitor's M&A announcement than their non-innovative peers. The similarity between acquirers and their rivals shrinks in the post-acquisition period, which may be caused by rival firms extending the breadth of their technological search in response to the acquisition. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:142308&r=tid |
| By: | Yvonne Giesing |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of technological change on immigration flows as well as the labor market outcomes of migrants versus natives. We analyse and compare the effects of two different automation technologies: Industrial robots and artificial intelligence. We exploit data provided by the Industrial Federation of Robotics as well as online job vacancy data on Germany, a highly automated economy and the main destination for migrants in Europe. We apply an instrumental variable strategy and identify how robots decrease the wage of migrants across all skill groups, while neither having a significant impact on the native population nor immigration flows. In the case of AI, we determine an increase in the wage gap as well as the unemployment gap of migrant and native populations. This applies to the low-, medium- and high-skilled and is indicative of migrants facing displacement effects, while natives might benefit from productivity and complementarity effects. In addition, AI leads to a significant inflow of immigrants. Policymakers should devote special attention to the migration population when designing mitigation policies in response to technological change to avoid further increases in inequality between migrants and natives. |
| Keywords: | technological change, AI, robots, immigration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 J78 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10876&r=tid |
| By: | NIREI Makoto; OIKAWA Koki; OROKU Masahiro |
| Abstract: | Patents applied by private firms occasionally cite scientific papers. We regard these citations as a signal that the research project of the applying firms involves basic research, and examine the relationship between basic research and firm performance. Firms conducting basic research are more likely to earn higher profit margins, while no monotonic relationship is observed between basic research and sales size. We then construct an endogenous growth model incorporating the basic research investment by heterogeneous firms. Firms' decisions regarding basic research depend on firm size, the necessity for basic research for developing their products, and the degree of knowledge spillover from external basic research results. Quantitative analysis using this model reveals how basic research spillover effects impact economic growth, and how declining R&D efficiency, which has been reported in the literature in recent years, leads to lower growth. Furthermore, we compare public basic research investment with basic research subsidies and demonstrate that the latter is more efficient as a growth policy. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:24013&r=tid |
| By: | Andreas Baur; Lisandra Flach; Isabella Gourevich; Florian Unger |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of robotization in high-income countries on firm-level North-South trade along the value chain. Using a novel combination of data sources including firm-level export data, input-output linkages, and robot adoption, we show contrasting implications for Southern firms. Increased exposure to robot adoption in the destination country of exports reduces firm-level exports in case of robot adoption in the same industry. However, the opposite holds when accounting for input-output linkages and trade along the value chain. We outline a North-South trade model with endogenous robot adoption that accounts for the different channels shown in the data. Our findings highlight the importance of taking into account supply chain linkages and suggest net positive effects for Southern exporters. |
| Keywords: | robotization, firm-level trade, value chain linkages, sourcing |
| JEL: | D20 F14 L20 O33 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10865&r=tid |
| By: | Adrien HERVOUET; Emmanuel LORENZON; Cesare RIGHI; Valerio STERZI |
| Abstract: | We study operating companies’ delegation of patent enforcement to patent assertion entities, a practice called “patent privateering.” Using a privateer may allow an operating company to generate higher patent revenues, increase rivals’ costs with “stealth” attacks, and limit the legal responsibilities to bear litigation costs. Using data on European patent transfers and patent infringement litigation in five large European jurisdictions in 2010-2020, we show that patent privateering is more likely to occur for patents with relatively lower economic value, for standard essential patents, and when the target of patent assertion is a competitor of the operating company. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property; patent; patent privateering; patent litigation; patent assertion enentity; SEP |
| JEL: | K11 K41 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:bdxewp:2023-10&r=tid |
| By: | Guy Ben-Ishai; Jeff Dean; James Manyika; Ruth Porat; Hal Varian; Kent Walker |
| Abstract: | Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) marks a pivotal moment in human history. It presents the opportunity for machines to learn, adapt, and perform tasks that have the potential to assist people, from everyday activities to their most creative and ambitious projects. It could also help businesses and organizations harness knowledge, increase productivity, innovate, transform, and power shared prosperity. This tremendous potential raises two fundamental questions: (1) Will AI actually advance national and global economic transformation to benefit society at large? and (2) What issues must we get right to fully realize AI's economic value, expand prosperity and improve lives everywhere? We explore these questions by considering the recent history of technology and innovation as a guide for the likely impact of AI and what we must do to realize its economic potential to benefit society. While we do not presume the future will be entirely like that past, for reasons we will discuss, we do believe prior experience with technological change offers many useful lessons. We conclude that while progress in AI presents a historic opportunity to advance our economic prosperity and future wellbeing, its economic benefits will not come automatically and that AI risks exacerbating existing economic challenges unless we collectively and purposefully act to enable its potential and address its challenges. We suggest a collective policy agenda - involving developers, deployers and users of AI, infrastructure providers, policymakers, and those involved in workforce training - that may help both realize and harness AI's economic potential and address its risks to our shared prosperity. |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2401.09718&r=tid |
| By: | Dario Guarascio; Alessandro Piccirillo; Jelena Reljic |
| Abstract: | This study conducts a meta-analysis to assess the effects of robotization on employment and wages, compiling data from 33 studies with 644 estimates on employment and a subset of 19 studies with 195 estimates on wages. We identify a publication bias towards negative outcomes, especially concerning wages. After correcting for this bias, the actual impact appears minimal. Thus, concerns about the disruptive effects of robots on employment and the risk of widespread technological unemployment may be exaggerated or not yet empirically supported. While this does not preclude that robots will be capable of gaining greater disruptive potential in the future or that they are not already disruptive in specific contexts, the evidence to date suggests their aggregate effect is negligible. |
| Keywords: | robots, employment, wages, meta-analysis, publication bias |
| Date: | 2024–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2024/03&r=tid |
| By: | Vatsala Shreeti |
| Abstract: | Internet-based digitalisation has ushered in a new wave of economic development in emerging markets, but persistent digital divides still exclude many from the benefits. To narrow these divides, it is important to understand the factors that shape the adoption of digital technologies. In this paper, I develop a structural model of consumer demand and supply to understand the main drivers of adoption of an essential digital technology: smartphones. Through counterfactual simulations, I quantify the role of growth in income and in income inequality, expansion of 4G network coverage, foreign entry, and improvements in device quality in shaping the smartphone market. I find that changes in the income distribution and in device quality are the most important factors driving smartphone adoption. I also provide a comparison of policies that can be used to spur smartphone adoption. I find that compared to ad valorem tax reductions and uniform subsidies, targeted subsidies are the least costly for the government and are the most effective for redistribution, being (almost) fully appropriated by consumers. |
| Keywords: | digitalisation, digital divide, technology adoption, demand estimation |
| JEL: | L10 L86 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1166&r=tid |
| By: | Aghion, Philippe; Antonin, Celine; Bunel, Simon; Jaravel, Xavier Laurent |
| Abstract: | We use comprehensive micro data in the French manufacturing sector between 1995 and 2017 to document the effects of a fall in the cost of investments in modern manufacturing capital, including modern automation technologies, on employment, wages, sales, prices, and business stealing. Causal effects are estimated with event studies and a shift-share IV design leveraging pre-determined supply linkages and productivity shocks across foreign suppliers of manufacturing capital. At all levels of analysis - plant, firm, and industry - the estimated impact of capital investments on employment is positive, even for unskilled industrial workers. Further-more, we find that capital investments lead to higher sales and exports, higher profits, and lower consumer prices, while wages and wage inequality remain unchanged. We estimate a positive industry-level employment response to manufacturing capital investments only in industries that are exposed to import competition, due to business-stealing across countries. Thus, typical investments in modern manufacturing capital lead to an increase in domestic labor demand and promote competitiveness in international markets. |
| Keywords: | modern manufacturing capital; investments; productivity; France |
| JEL: | L00 |
| Date: | 2023–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:121340&r=tid |