nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2007‒06‒23
eight papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

  1. Economics research in Canada: A long-run assessment of journal publications By James B. Davies; Martin Kocher; Matthias Sutter
  2. Soaring Minds: The Flight of Israel’s Economists By Ben-David, Dan
  3. Academic Patenting in Europe: New Evidence from the KEINS Database. By Francesco Lissoni; Patrick Llerena; Maureen McKelvey; Bulat Sanditov
  4. Science vs Technology: a faculty dilemma? 35 years of patenting at the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University. By Eleftherios Sapsalis
  5. Harnessing Success: Determinants of UniversityTechnology Licensing Performance By Sharon Belenzon; Mark Schankerman
  6. From Science to License: An exploratory analysis of the value of academic patents By Eleftherios Sapsalis
  7. The appropriate style of economic discourse. Keynes on Economics and Econometrics By Garrone Giovanna; Marchionatti Roberto
  8. Keynes, statistics and econometrics By Garrone Giovanna; Marchionatti Roberto

  1. By: James B. Davies; Martin Kocher; Matthias Sutter
    Abstract: We examine the publications of authors affiliated with an economics research institution in Canada in (i) the Top-10 journals in economics according to journals’ impact factors, and (ii) the Canadian Journal of Economics. We consider all publications in the even years from 1980 to 2000. Canadian economists contributed about 5% of publications in the Top-10 journals and about 55% of publications in the Canadian Journal of Economics over this period. We identify the most active research centres and identify trends in their relative outputs over time. Those research centres successful in publishing in the Top-10 journals are found to also dominate the Canadian Journal of Economics. Additionally, we check the robustness of our findings with respect to journal selection, and we present data on authors’ Ph.D.-origin, thereby indicating output and its concentration in graduate education.
    Keywords: Research in economics, Canadian economics, top journals
    JEL: A11 A14
    Date: 2007–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2007-13&r=sog
  2. By: Ben-David, Dan
    Abstract: Despite their small number, Israeli economists have become an important fixture in the international academic scene. In recent years, this phenomenon has been characterized by an additional attribute: the number of Israelis who have chosen to leave the country’s universities - or not to return to them - a process that has brought Israel’s top economics departments to the brink. The elimination of the country from the international research envelope in the future has become a realistic possibility that will impact not only the State of Israel, which stands to lose the most, but the profession in general. This article provides a snapshot of an implosion in progress. It also provides a case study that is important for other countries to understand as some steadily advance toward the Israeli scenario.
    Keywords: academic economists; brain drain; Israel; migration; rankings
    JEL: A11 F22 H52 H83 I23 J31 J61 O15
    Date: 2007–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6338&r=sog
  3. By: Francesco Lissoni (University of Brescia, Brescia and Cespri - Bocconi University, Milano, Italy.); Patrick Llerena (BETA - Université L.Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.); Maureen McKelvey (RIDE-IMIT - Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden.); Bulat Sanditov (Cespri - Bocconi University, Milano, Italy and MERIT - Maastricht University, The Netherlands.)
    Abstract: The paper provides summary statistics from the KEINS database on academic patenting in France, Italy, and Sweden. It shows that academic scientists in those countries have signed many more patents than previously estimated. This re?evaluation of academic patenting comes by considering all patents signed by academic scientists active in 2004, both those assigned to universities and the many more held by business companies, governmental organizations, and public laboratories. Specific institutional features of the university and research systems in the three countries contribute to explain these ownership patterns, which are remarkably different from those observed in the US. In the light of these new data, European universities’ contribution to domestic patenting appears not to be much less intense than that of their US counterparts.
    Keywords: Technology transfer, University patents, Academic inventors.
    JEL: I23 O31 O34
    Date: 2007–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp202&r=sog
  4. By: Eleftherios Sapsalis (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels and Columbia University, US.)
    Abstract: In the large and complex debate related to the creation, diffusion and protection of academic research results, this paper intends to understand the characteristics of academics involved in the knowledge creation as measured by publications and patents. Moreover, it aims to produce some piece of evidence that it is possible to manage patenting activity without jeopardizing publishing. Analysing the publishing and patenting activity of the 326 faculty members of the School of Engineering at Columbia University between 1970 and 2005, we find out that more than the Bayh-Dole Act, it is the implementation of the IP policy at Columbia University that has created an incentive to patent at the engineering school. We also find out that the probability and propensity to patent is influenced by the scientific production of a researcher, his contacts with industry but also his mindset towards patenting. Analysing the scientific productivity of the researchers, we confirm that heterogeneity in the career might deter the productivity of a researcher. We find that scientific collaboration with industry and technological collaboration on application-oriented projects with public or industrial partners had a positive impact on the probability to be among the best scientists. Finally our results suggest that patenting activity undertaken by Columbia University does not divert academics from publishing and relay the recent findings of the literature.
    Keywords: Academia, Patent, Publication
    JEL: O10 O33 O34 O38 L38
    Date: 2007–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:07-017&r=sog
  5. By: Sharon Belenzon; Mark Schankerman
    Abstract: We study the impact of incentive pay, local development objectives and governmentconstraints on university licensing performance. We develop and test a simple contractingmodel of technology licensing offices, using new survey information together with paneldata on U.S. universities for 1995-99. We find that private universities are much morelikely to adopt incentive pay than public ones, but ownership does not affect licensingperformance conditional on the use of incentive pay. Adopting incentive pay is associatedwith about 30-40 percent more income per license. Universities with strong localdevelopment objectives generate about 30 percent less income per license, but are morelikely to license to local (in-state) startup companies. Stronger government constraints are'costly' in terms of foregone license income and startup activity. These results are robustto controls for observed and unobserved heterogeneity.Keywords: incentives,
    Keywords: incentives,
    JEL: O31 O32 O33 F23
    Date: 2007–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:stieip:44&r=sog
  6. By: Eleftherios Sapsalis (Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.)
    Abstract: This paper analyses the industrial and entrepreneurial value of 334 patent families applied for by six major Belgian universities. It identifies the value determinants underlying the patent documents and highlights the positive and significant impact of collaboration and tacit scientific knowledge of the inventors’ team on the probability to get licensed. It also shows that there are technological differences between patents licensed to existing companies and the ones licensed to spin-offs. It suggests that existing companies are more likely to license technologies to be cited by academia when spin-offs exploit academic patents that are cited by the industry. These results advocate that existing companies and start-ups are two different valorisation patterns to commercialise different types of academic technologies. The paper stresses also the importance of collaboration between public and corporate research teams in order to get patent licensed. It pleads for a better management and valorisation sheme of patents co-applied for by many academic assignees and draws attention on the need to focus on academic researchers with a high scientific profile in terms of publications in order to crystallize their tacit knowledge into valuable patents.
    Keywords: Patent value, patent indicators, knowledge sources, license, spin-off.
    JEL: L24 M13 O33 O34
    Date: 2007–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:07-018&r=sog
  7. By: Garrone Giovanna; Marchionatti Roberto (University of Turin)
    Date: 2007–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:cesmep:200702&r=sog
  8. By: Garrone Giovanna; Marchionatti Roberto (University of Turin)
    Date: 2007–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:cesmep:200703&r=sog

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