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on Innovation |
| By: | Lokshin, Boris (UNU-MERIT); Belderbos, René (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Eindhoven University of Technology); Carree, Martin (University of Maastricht) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of internal and external R&D on labor productivity in a 6-year panel of Dutch manufacturing firms. We apply a dynamic linear panel data model that allows for decreasing or increasing returns to scale in internal and external R&D and for economies of scope. We find complementarity between internal and external R&D, with a positive impact of external R&D only evident in case of sufficient internal R&D. These findings confirm the role of internal R&D in enhancing absorptive capacity and hence the effective utilization of external knowledge. The scope economies due the combination of internal and external R&D are accentuated by decreasing results to scale at high levels of internal and external R&D. The analysis indicates that on average productivity grows by increasing the share of external R&D in total R&D. |
| Keywords: | R&D, Innovation, Complementarity, Panel Data |
| JEL: | O32 O33 D24 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2007026&r=ino |
| By: | Willi Leibfritz; Jürgen Janger |
| Abstract: | Enhancing growth through more innovation has become a priority for Austrian policy makers in line with European policies as laid down in the Lisbon Agenda. This paper discusses Austria’s innovation performance, its innovation policies, and general framework conditions for innovation and growth. Austria has increased its R&D spending as a share of GDP over the last ten years, largely reflecting more business R&D, and aims at increasing it further to 3% of GDP by 2010. Innovation activity as measured by output indicators has also improved in various fields, including the number of innovating SMEs. Furthermore, policy instruments and institutions have been improved and a culture of policy evaluation is developing. However, the paper identifies some weaknesses, particularly in general economic framework conditions, which may limit the creation and diffusion of innovation and productivity growth. It suggests focusing more on these framework conditions, notably by strengthening competition in non-manufacturing product markets, such as retail and professional services, reducing the cost of firm creation and improving human capital. It also argues that focusing on a numerical target for R&D spending as an end in itself is very unlikely to be cost effective. With its university reform in 2002, Austria has made a major step in improving the efficiency of tertiary education but more needs to be done. <P>Comment améliorer la performance de l’Autriche en matière d’innovation <BR>Dans le droit fil des politiques européennes prévues par la Stratégie de Lisbonne, le renforcement de la croissance par un surcroît d’innovation est devenu une priorité pour les responsables autrichiens de l’action publique. Nous abordons dans le présent document les performances et les politiques de l’Autriche en matière d’innovation, ainsi que ses conditions-cadres pour l’innovation et la croissance. En pourcentage du PIB, le pays affiche sur la décennie écoulée une augmentation des dépenses de R-D largement imputable à une progression de la R-D dans les entreprises, et s’est fixé pour objectif de l’accroître encore à hauteur de 3 % du PIB d’ici 2010. À l’aune des indicateurs de production, les activités d’innovation ont connu des améliorations dans différents domaines, et le nombre de PME innovantes notamment a progressé. Les autorités ont également fait évoluer les moyens d’action et les institutions publiques, et une culture de l’évaluation des politiques menées se met en place. Nous détaillons cependant quelques points faibles qui, en particulier sous l’angle des conditions-cadres économiques, sont susceptibles de restreindre l’éclosion et la diffusion de l’innovation, ainsi que la croissance de la productivité. Nous suggérons d’axer davantage l’action sur ces conditions-cadres, notamment en renforçant la concurrence sur les marchés de produits non manufacturés tels que le commerce de détail et les services assurés par les professions libérales, en diminuant les coûts liés à la création d’une entreprise et en valorisant le capital humain. Nous indiquons par ailleurs que l’assignation aux dépenses de R-D d’un objectif numérique considéré comme une fin en soi a très peu de chances d’être économiquement rentable. Avec la réforme universitaire engagée en 2002, l’Autriche a franchi une étape cruciale sur la voie de l’amélioration de l’efficience de son enseignement supérieur, mais elle doit encore fournir d’autres efforts. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, productivity, croissance économique, productivité, competition, innovation, innovation, concurrence, subsidies, research and development, technological change, tertiary education, recherche-développement, changement technologique, enseignement supérieur, subventions |
| JEL: | H2 J2 O30 O31 O33 O38 Q40 Q43 Q52 |
| Date: | 2007–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:580-en&r=ino |
| By: | Bianca Brandenburg; Jutta Günther; Lutz Schneider |
| Abstract: | Degree-level science and engineering skills as well as management and leadership skills are often referred to as a source of innovative activities within companies. Broken down by sectoral innovation patterns, this article examines the role of formal education and actual occupation for product innovation performance in manufacturing firms within a probit model. It uses unique micro data for Germany (LIAB) that contain detailed information about innovative activities and the qualification of employees. We find significant differences of the human capital endowment between sectors differentiated according to the Pavitt classification. Sectors with a high share of highly skilled employees engage in product innovation above average (specialized suppliers and science based industries). According to our hitherto estimation results, within these sectors the share of highly skilled employees does not, however, substantially increase the probability to be an innovative firm. |
| Keywords: | innovation, human capital, qualification, sectoral innovation system |
| JEL: | O31 J |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:10-07&r=ino |
| By: | Beatty, Edward (University of Notre Dame); Saiz, J. Patricio (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the nature and implications of nineteenth century patent law in two late-industrializing countries: Spain and Mexico. Both inherited earlier ancien regime monopoly practices, both adopted aspects of modern, codified patent systems in the early nineteenth century, and both sought primarily to encourage innovation and especially the introduction of foreign techniques. Mexico, however, abandoned this orientation in 1890 in favor of an emphasis on supporting inventive activity while Spain retained this orientation until recently. After presenting an overview of the conceptual and historical issues regarding comparative patent systems in section one; section two compares the nature of the Spanish and Mexican systems in the nineteenth century; while sections three and four examine the implications of patent law: its impact on trends in patenting behavior and —more tentatively— its probable consequences for investment in technological change. |
| Keywords: | Spain and Mexico Economic History; Patents; Technological Change; Technology Transfer. |
| JEL: | N40 N43 N46 O31 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpapeh:200702&r=ino |
| By: | Madeleine Akrich (CSI - Centre de sociologie de l'innovation - [CNRS : UMR7120] - [Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris]); Riel Miller (DTI - Danish Technology Institute - [Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation]) |
| Abstract: | This text is the synthesis report based on the work of the High Level Expert Group on the Future of <br />Research Actors (RA) in the European Research Area (ERA). This group was set up by the Technology Foresight Group, DG Research, European Commision. Many of the conclusions of this synthesis report are fully consistent with the directions of <br />current research policies. The work of the group highlights the importance of <br />efforts, already well underway, to reinforce the functioning of the ERA as an integrated base <br />that overcomes a wide range of geographic, institutional and disciplinary barriers to the both <br />the competition and sharing of knowledge. Knitting together the different European research <br />actors into a more transparent and diversified whole would seem to be one of the best ways <br />to create a stronger platform for knowledge creation and diffusion. A less anticipated <br />conclusion, and less part of the existing consensus, is that simply pursuing the ambition of <br />multiplying the number of effective research platforms in Europe may miss a key part of <br />tomorrow's research agenda. The in-depth expert papers on the eight different research <br />actors of the ERA, the insights arising from the synthesis developed in this paper, and the <br />analytical results of a rare scenario pooling exercise, all point very clearly to the risk that <br />current policies are excessively technology centric and may miss crucial emerging attributes <br />of research and research actors in the knowledge society. Thus, over and above the value- <br />added for assessing the direction and implementation of current approaches to improving the <br />production and use of research in Europe, this report recommends new policies aimed at <br />accelerating the development of emergent forms and sources of research. The policy <br />message is that Europe must move beyond industrial-era challenges to embrace those of the <br />knowledge society. <br />Further opening, expanding and integrating the European Research Area requires: <br />1) Policies that put into practice expanded criteria for designing and funding research <br />programmes for the European Research Area to include user-centred technological, <br />organisational and social innovation. <br />2) Policies that initiate experiments that validate (quality/trust/transparency) new forms and <br />producers (including individual independent researchers) of knowledge. <br />3) Policies, both budgetary and regulatory, that create and facilitate both new collaborative <br />environments for research, including user-centred research, and new governance <br />processes.<br />4) Policies to enhance the capacity of policy makers (including at the regional level) to <br />recognise and facilitate new forms of research and particularly new approaches to the <br />governance of research processes. <br />5) Policies to abolish national borders for researchers and for students both within Europe <br />and outside Europe. <br />6) Policies to strengthen the autonomy of universities, including areas so far strictly <br />controlled by most governments such as a university's strategic profile and selection of <br />specialisations. <br />7) Further research is required regarding the relationship between the changing nature of <br />research and intellectual property rights (IPR). <br />8) Further research is required regarding the functional division of labour amongst different <br />research actors in the context of the emerging “open innovation model”. <br />9) Further research is required in order to describe and analyse the contribution of civil <br />society to research and innovation. <br />10) Further research is required on how to establish trust in highly complex and diversified <br />knowledge societies. <br />11) Further research is required to define and measure new forms of innovation, particularly <br />with respect to the innovation related research occurring in the service sector, SMEs and <br />the community (social innovation) that point towards new models of innovation. |
| Keywords: | RESEARCH ORGANIZATION; UNIVERSITIES; CIVIL SOCIETY; MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES; SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES; NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS; REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS; RESEARCH POLICIES; RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS; FORESIGHT; EUROPE |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00116775_v2&r=ino |
| By: | Solomon Tadesse; ; |
| Abstract: | Research in development economics reveals that the bulk of cross-country differences in economic growth is attributable to differences in productivity. By some accounts, productivity contributes to more than 60 percent of countries’ growth in per capita GDP. I examine a particular channel through which financial development could explain cross-country and crossindustry differences in realized productivity. I argue that financial development induces technological innovations – a major stimulus of productivity - through facilitating capital mobilization and risk sharing. In a panel of industries across thirty eight countries, I find that financial development explains the cross-country differences in industry rates of technological progress, rates of real cost reduction and rates of productivity growth. I find that the effect of financial development on productivity and technological progress is heterogeneous across industrial sectors that differ in their needs for financing innovation. In particular, industries whose younger firms depend more on external finance realize faster rate of technological change in countries with more developed banking sector. |
| Keywords: | Financial Development, Productivity Growth, Technological Progress, Innovation |
| JEL: | G1 G21 G32 E44 O14 O31 O34 O4 |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2007-879&r=ino |
| By: | Solange Corder |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Brazil Countries, in the 90?s. There´s a general government? concern to stimulate research, development and innovation in entrepreneurial sector, beyond to incentive the cooperation. Brazil, inspirate in OECD? policies create several instruments diversifying the available mechanisms. It is unlikely to implement the Industrial Policy based on the old patterns, due to the new international commercial rules. The government, then, had searched new forms to incentive the economic development, with emphasis in innovation policies. Innovation is here understood as a broad concept including not only research and development but all the necessary activities to bring a new product or a new service to the market. This means that financing mechanisms have to attend to specific and different demands related to the innovation process. Each step and each activity will require a specific instrument. Moreover, it is necessary to assess the effectiveness of these instruments in terms of their actual capacity to foster innovation among firms in the context of the national system of innovation. |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:1244&r=ino |
| By: | Tuomo Nikulainen |
| Abstract: | Nanotechnology, as an emerging science-based technology, is seen to have great potential both in scientific as well as economic terms. In this paper the focus is on identifying the technological linkages between the Finnish nanotechnology community and the industrial incumbents. These technological link-ages are first observed at a broader level in comparison with the technological strengths of the Finnish industries, and then in greater detail at the level of companies. In addition, the absorptive capacity of the incumbents is discussed to illustrate their ability to take advantage of external sources of knowledge. The descriptive analysis shows that the R&D activities of the Finnish nano-community are linked up to the technological specialisation of Finnish industry in broader sense and that there are potential technological linkages to various industrial sectors. Further, the nano-related incumbents are characterised by a higher level of absorptive capacity. The conclusion is that nanotechnology is connected to traditional and ‘high-tech’ industries. The nano-related incumbents might also exhibit an ability to utilise external sources of knowledge, and can possibly provide commercialisation paths for the smaller nano-dedicated companies. The future will tell whether the incumbent companies will play a key role in the commercialisation of nanotechnology in Finland. |
| Keywords: | nanotechnology, Finland, general purpose technology, technology life cycle, absorptive capacity |
| JEL: | O33 O30 |
| Date: | 2007–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1101&r=ino |
| By: | Frank Beckenbach (Department of Economics, University of Kassel); Ramòn Briegel (Department of Economics, University of Kassel); Maria Daskalakis (Department of Economics, University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | Starting from the observation that there exists a broad variety for the level as well as for the connectedness of innovation activities in a regional context, we try to figure out a behavioral approach for explaining such a variety. This approach is composed of (i)conceptual and theoretical reflections about the micro-foundation of innovation activities, (ii)an agent-based simulation model for these activities and (iii)empirical regional survey studies as a measuring rod for such an approach. Such a composition can fill the explanatory gap between external conditions for regional innovation activities on one side and the observable innovation outcome by specifying plausible internal conditions for novelty creating activities on the other side. Furthermore the emergence of regional innovation networks can be explained. |
| Keywords: | Regional Innovation Networks, Multi-Agent-System, Behavioral Economics, Evolutionary Economics |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kas:poabec:2007-3&r=ino |
| By: | Alex Coad (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne et Max Planck Institute of Economics - Germany); Rekha Rao (LEM, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The issue of technological unemployment receives perennial popular attention. Although there are previous empirical investigations that have focused on the relationship between innovation and employment, the originality of our approach lies in our choice of method. We focus on four 2-digit manufacturing industries that are known for their high patenting activity. We then use Principal Components Analysis to generate a firm-and year-specific "innovativeness" index by extracting the common variance in a firm's patenting and R&D expenditure histories. To begin with, we explore the heterogeneity of firms by using semi-parametric quantile regression. Whilst some firms may reduce employment levels after innovating, others increase employment. We then move on to a weighted least squares (WLS) analysis, which explicitly takes into account the different job-creating potential of firms of different sizes. As a result, we focus on the effect of innovation on total number of jobs, whereas previous studies have focused on the effect of innovation on firm behavior. Indeed, previous studies have typically taken the firm as the unit of analysis, implicity weighting each firm equally according to the principle of "one firm equals one observation". Our results suggest that firm-level innovative activity leads to employment creation that may have been underestimated in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | Technological unemployment, innovation, firm growth, Weighted Least Squares, aggregation, quantile regression. |
| JEL: | L25 O33 J01 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:r07036&r=ino |
| By: | Alex Coad (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - [CNRS : UMR8174] - [Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I], Max Planck Institute of Economics - [Evolutionary Economics Group]); Rekha Rao (LEM - Laboratory of Economics and Management - [Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies]) |
| Abstract: | The issue of technological unemployment receives perennial popular attention. Although there are previous empirical investigations that have focused on the relationship between innovation and employment, the originality of our approach lies in our choice of method. We focus on four 2-digit manufacturing industries that are known for their high patenting activity. We then use Principal Components Analysis to generate a firm-and year-specific "innovativeness" index by extracting the common variance in a firm's patenting and R&D expenditure histories. To begin with, we explore the heterogeneity of firms by using semi-parametric quantile regression. Whilst some firms may reduce employment levels after innovating, others increase employment. We then move on to a weighted least squares (WLS) analysis, which explicitly takes into account the different job-creating potential of firms of different sizes. As a result, we focus on the effect of innovation on total number of jobs, whereas previous studies have focused on the effect of innovation on firm behavior. Indeed, previous studies have typically taken the firm as the unit of analysis, implicity weighting each firm equally according to the principle of "one firm equals one observation". Our results suggest that firm-level innovative activity leads to employment creation that may have been underestimated in previous studies. |
| Keywords: | Technological unemployment, innovation, firm growth, Weighted Least Squares, aggregation, quantile regression. |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00175042_v1&r=ino |
| By: | Leo Sveikauskas (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on R&D to provide guidelines for recent efforts to include R&D in the national income accounts. The main conclusions are: 1. Measures of R&D as an asset held by a particular owner must be complemented by estimates of the spillover effect of R&D in order to obtain a reliable measure of the overall effect of R&D on productivity growth. 2. If research financed by the government and research financed by business are both counted as investment, some double counting occurs and growth accounting analysis overstates the role of research relative to other factors. 3. The overall rate of return to R&D is very large, perhaps 25 percent as a private return and a total of 65 percent for social returns. However, these returns apply only to privately financed R&D in industry. Returns to many forms of publicly financed R&D are near zero. 4. Firm R&D should be allocated to the different industries in which a firm produces, rather than all credited to the firm’s main industry. An allocation procedure is proposed. 5. Much further work needs to be carried out to understand how R&D conducted in the richest countries is transmitted to developing countries. Detailed microeconomic data on firms or establishments in developing nations will be necessary to understand the channels of technology transfer more fully. |
| Keywords: | R&D Stocks, R&D Spillovers, R&D and Productivity Growth |
| JEL: | O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec070070&r=ino |
| By: | Lokshin, Boris (UNU-MERIT); Mohnen, Pierre (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of the Dutch R&D fiscal incentive program, known as WBSO, on R&D capital formation. Taking a factor-demand approach we measure the elasticity of firm R&D capital accumulation to its user cost. An econometric model is estimated using a rich unbalanced panel covering the period 1996-2004 with firm-specific R&D user costs varying with tax incentives. Using the estimated user cost elasticity, we examine the impact of the R&D incentive program. We find evidence that the program of R&D incentives in the Netherlands has been effective in reducing the user cost of R&D and in stimulating firms' investment in R&D. |
| Keywords: | R&D tax credits, panel data, crowding out, user-cost elasticity, R&D, fiscal incentives |
| JEL: | O32 O38 H25 H50 C23 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2007025&r=ino |
| By: | Garcia, Abraham (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This article focuses on the role of demand in the National System of Innovations: why it is so important, and how does it affect the dynamics of the system and the flow of inventions and innovations. To study the evolutions and the dynamics of the different systems a series of composite indicators will be build up. In the paper it will be argued that the system of innovation can be defined by four different dimensions: Social and Human Capital, Knowledge Creation, Innovation capacity of the Supply and Innovation from the Demand. The evolution of these dimensions is studied over a period of fifteen years and compared across fourteen European countries. This structure allows to study different dynamics, and evolution over time of different systems. The study highlights the weak links of the system, comparing each national system with the performance of the rest of the states members. The identification of the weakness and the evolution of the weakness over the time gives interesting policy conclusions. The aim of the paper is also to contribute to the theory of composite indicators by offering a new approach to select, after carrying out a sensitivity analysis, the best indicator. |
| Keywords: | National System of Innovations, Composite Indicators, Benchmarking, Demand |
| JEL: | O30 O38 O52 P46 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2007027&r=ino |
| By: | Solomon Tadesse; ; |
| Abstract: | Does a financial system architecture anchored on banks better than one centered on markets in fostering technological innovations as engine of growth? In a panel of industrial sectors across a large cross section of countries, I find that while market-based systems have a general positive effect on innovations in all economic sectors, bank-based systems foster more rapid technological progress in more informationintensive industrial sectors, suggesting a heterogeneous impact of financial architecture. Thus, the relative performance of bank-based systems vis-à-vis market-based systems depends on the industrial structure of the economy. |
| Keywords: | Technological Progress, Innovation, Intangible Assets, Financial System Architecture, Bank-Based System, Market-Based System |
| JEL: | G1 G21 G32 E44 O14 O31 O34 O4 |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2007-877&r=ino |
| By: | Robert M. Hunt |
| Abstract: | Nearly a decade after the Federal Circuit decision in State Street, patents on computer-implemented methods of doing business have become commonplace. To date, there is little evidence of any effect on the rate of innovation or R&D among firms in financial services. Indeed, measuring such effects presents difficult problems for researchers. We do know that some of these patents are successfully licensed and others are the subject of ongoing litigation. Looking ahead, a number of recent Supreme Court decisions are likely to have a significant effect on how business method patents are enforced. Congress is also considering significant reforms to U.S. patent law. |
| Keywords: | Patents ; Financial services industry |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:07-21&r=ino |
| By: | Paul Lanoie; Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti; Nick Johnstone; Stefan Ambec |
| Abstract: | Jaffe and Palmer (1997) present three distinct variants of the so-called Porter Hypothesis. The “weak” version of the hypothesis posits that environmental regulation will stimulate certain kinds of environmental innovations. The “narrow” version of the hypothesis asserts that flexible environmental policy regimes give firms greater incentive to innovate than prescriptive regulations, such as technology-based standards. Finally, the “strong” version posits that properly designed regulation may induce cost-saving innovation that more than compensates for the cost of compliance. In this paper, we test the significance of these different variants of the Porter Hypothesis using data on the four main elements of the hypothesised causality chain (environmental policy, research and development, environmental performance and commercial performance). The analysis is based upon a unique database which includes observations from approximately 4200 facilities in seven OECD countries. In general, we find strong support for the “weak” version, qualified support for the “narrow” version, and qualified support for the “strong” version as well. <P>Jaffe et Palmer (1997) présentent trois variantes distinctes de l’hypothèse de Porter. La version « faible » de l'hypothèse suppose que la réglementation environnementale stimulera l’apparition d’innovations dans le domaine de l’environnement. La version « étroite » de l'hypothèse affirme que les réglementations environnementales flexibles donnent aux firmes une plus grande incitation pour innover que les réglementations rigides, telles que les normes prescrivant une technologie pour une industrie donnée. Enfin, la version « forte » pose qu’une réglementation correctement conçue peut induire davantage de gains en termes d’innovation que de coûts pour se conformer à la règle. Dans cet article, nous examinons la portée de ces différentes variantes de l'hypothèse de Porter en utilisant des données sur les quatre principaux éléments de la chaîne présumée de causalité (politique environnementale, recherche et développement, performance environnementale et performance commerciale). L'analyse est fondée sur une base de données unique qui inclut des observations d'approximativement 4200 établissements dans sept pays de l’OCDE. Nos résultats supportent fortement la version « faible », mais de façon plus mitigée les versions « étroite » et « forte ». |
| Keywords: | Porter hypothesis, environmental policy, innovation, environmental performance, business performance., hypothèse de Porter, politique environnementale, innovation, performance environnementale, performance financière. |
| JEL: | L21 M14 Q52 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2007–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2007s-19&r=ino |
| By: | Bronwyn H. Hall |
| Abstract: | Measuring the private returns to R&D requires knowledge of its private depreciation or obsolescence rate, which is inherently variable and responds to competitive pressure. Nevertheless, most of the previous literature has used a constant depreciation rate to construct R&D capital stocks and measure the returns to R&D, a rate usually equal to 15 per cent. In this paper I review the implications of this assumption for the measurement of returns using two different methodologies: one based on the production function and another that uses firm market value to infer returns. Under the assumption that firms choose their R&D investment optimally, that is, marginal expected benefit equals marginal cost, I show that both estimates of returns can be inverted to derive an implied depreciation rate for R&D capital. I then test these ideas on a large unbalanced panel of U.S. manufacturing firms for the years 1974 to 2003. The two methods do not agree, in that the production function approach suggests depreciation rates near zero (or even appreciation) whereas the market value approach implies depreciation rates ranging from 20 to 40 per cent, depending on the period. The concluding section discusses the possible reasons for this finding. |
| JEL: | D24 G12 L20 O30 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13473&r=ino |
| By: | de Rassenfosse, Gaetan; van Pottelsberghe, Bruno |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of patent filing fees requested by the member states of the European Patent Convention (EPC). We provide a first empirical evidence showing that the fee elasticity of the demand for priority applications is negative and significant. Given the strong variation in absolute fees and in fees per capita across countries, this result witnesses a suboptimal treatment of inventors across European countries and suggests that fees should be considered as an integral part of an IP policy, especially in the current context of worrying backlogs. In addition, we show that the transfer rate of domestic priority filings to the EPO increases with the duration of membership to the EPO and the GDP per capita of a country, suggesting that member states experience a learning curve within the EPC. The high heterogeneity in the transfer rates casts some doubts on the practice that consists in relying on filings at the EPO or at the USPTO to assess innovative performance of countries. |
| Keywords: | fees; patent filing; price elasticity |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O38 O57 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6499&r=ino |
| By: | Trommetter, M. |
| Abstract: | In this paper I discuss the fact that economists define optimal IP rights as a continuum of options in three dimensions: height, breadth and length. At the operational level we see the impossibility of multiplying rights indefinitely (due to prohibitive transaction costs), as well as the use of a limited number of IP tools which have led to the implementation of flexibilities. These flexibilities are designed to limit certain perverse effects of rights ill-adjusted to the characteristics of some economic sectors (agricultural biotechnologies, pharmacy, etc.). In this context, I analyse how these flexibilities are implemented in TRIPS and TRIPS+ agreements and I study the consequences for Developing Countries. |
| Keywords: | TRIPS;INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS;PATENT;AGRICULTURE;INNOVATION |
| JEL: | K11 O31 L65 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:200708&r=ino |
| By: | Vanessa OLTRA (GREThA); Maïder SAINT JEAN (GREThA) |
| Keywords: | Environmental innovations; technological regime; technological paradigm; environmental regulation; automotive industry; green chemistry |
| JEL: | Q55 O31 L62 L65 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2007-14&r=ino |