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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Acs, Zoltán J; Audretsch, David B; Braunerhjelm, Pontus; Carlsson, Bo |
| Abstract: | The intellectual breakthrough contributed by the new growth theory was the recognition that investments in knowledge and human capital endogenously generate economic growth through the spillover of knowledge. Endogenous growth theory does not explain how or why spillovers occur. The missing link is the mechanism converting knowledge into economically relevant knowledge. This Paper develops a model that introduces a filter between knowledge and economic knowledge and identifies entrepreneurship as a mechanism that reduces the knowledge filter. A cross-country regression analysis over the period 1981-2001 provides empirical support for the model. We conclude that public policies facilitating knowledge spillovers through entrepreneurship may be an important new approach to promoting economic growth. |
| Keywords: | endogenous growth; entrepreneurship; innovation; knowledge |
| JEL: | L10 O10 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4783&r=tid |
| By: | Audretsch, David B; Keilbach, Max |
| Abstract: | Since the early 1980s, the role and general perception of entrepreneurship and start-up activities has changed drastically. In this paper, we investigate what determines regions’ entrepreneurial behaviour and the impact of it on regional economic performance. We argue that economic knowledge not only differs from traditional factors of production due to its public goods characteristic but it is also uncertain. With that perspective, the role of entrepreneurship is to take on the corresponding risk by starting up a new firm and thus to ‘test’ uncertain economic knowledge. This implies that knowledge spills over to the start-up firm and therefore entrepreneurship can be expected to have a positive impact on economic performance in a knowledge-based economy. We test this hypothesis using a production function approach. Using data on German regions, we estimate a two-equation system that regresses on both variables, entrepreneurship and economic performance, simultaneously, thus correcting for an endogeneity bias. We find a significant impact of entrepreneurship capital on economic output. On the other hand, spatially-specific entrepreneurship capital is shaped by regional-specific factors. However, the extent of this is different for knowledge based and non-knowledge based measures of entrepreneurship. We derive policy conclusions from our findings. |
| Keywords: | economic output; endogeneity bias; entrepreneurship; production function; three stage least squares |
| JEL: | M13 O32 O47 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4905&r=tid |
| By: | Audretsch, David B; Lehmann, Erik E |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact locational spillovers have on firm performance. Based on a uniquely created dataset consisting of high-technology start-ups publicly listed in Germany, this paper tests the proposition of locational spillovers positively affecting firm performance, as measured by abnormally high profits on the stock market. The results provide evidence that geographic proximity and university spillovers are complementary determinants of firm performance. While neither geographic proximity nor academic research spillovers alone can explain firm performance, a combination of both factors results in significant higher stock market performance. The results also show academic spillovers are heterogeneous in their impact depending on the type. In particular, spillovers from social sciences have a different impact on firm performance than do spillovers from natural science. |
| Keywords: | firm performance; university spillover; university-firm collaboration |
| JEL: | L20 M13 R30 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4949&r=tid |
| By: | Bloom, Nicholas; Schankerman, Mark; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Support for many R&D and technology policies relies on empirical evidence that R&D ‘spills over’ between firms. But there are two countervailing R&D spillovers: positive effects from technology spillovers and negative effects from business stealing by product market rivals. We develop a general framework showing that technology and product market spillovers have testable implications for a range of performance indicators, and exploit these using distinct measures of a firm’s position in technology space and product market space. We show using panel data on US firms between 1981 and 2001 that both technology and product market spillovers operate, but that net social returns are several times larger than private returns. The spillover effects are also revealed when we analyze three high-tech sectors in detail - pharmaceuticals, computer hardware and telecommunication equipment. Using the model we evaluate three R&D subsidy policies and show that the typical focus of support for small and medium firms may be misplaced. |
| Keywords: | market value; patents; R&D; spillovers |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4912&r=tid |
| By: | Kaivanto, Kim; Stoneman, Paul |
| Abstract: | This Paper studies the criteria with which the presence or absence of ‘subsidy’ in sales contingent Launch Aid R&D support may be determined when payoff-relevant market incompleteness limits the precision of market-based pricing to non-trivial intervals. The criteria currently employed in WTO and EU proceedings are consistent with correct accounting for the opportunity cost of capital when markets are complete and frictionless, but fail in the presence of payoff-relevant market incompleteness where the interval between bid and ask prices may not be finessed away. An economic definition of subsidy must necessarily capture opportunity cost, and we develop a definition that fully incorporates government’s opportunity cost in both complete and incomplete market settings. With this in hand we then revisit some commonly posed questions concerning the subsidy status of Launch Aid, giving indication of how they may be best resolved by those in possession of the relevant details. |
| Keywords: | civil aerospace; incomplete markets; R&D; sales contingent claims; subsidies |
| JEL: | D52 F13 H25 L62 O38 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4798&r=tid |
| By: | Schivardi, Fabiano; Schneider, Martin |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the diffusion of a new technology that is brought to market while its potential is still uncertain. We consider a dynamic game in which firms improve both a new and a rival old technology while learning about the relative potential of both technologies. We use the model to understand historical evidence on diffusion and market structure. In particular, the model explains why a change in market leadership often goes along with slow diffusion. It also provides a rational explanation for observed ‘incumbent inertia’ and shows how markets can make mistakes in the selection of new technologies. |
| Keywords: | dynamic games; innovation; learning; oligopoly |
| JEL: | C63 C73 D83 L13 O31 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4925&r=tid |
| By: | Hoernig, Steffen |
| Abstract: | The European Union will be introducing a Europe-wide patent, the so-called Community Patent. Its aim is to foster innovative activity, but strategic effects between firms competing in R&D have not been considered in the official discourse. We show that, even if these are taken into account, the Community Patent will increase innovative activity and welfare. On the other hand, if the decision of participating in R&D is considered, then this increased R&D will be concentrated into fewer firms. Furthermore, we show that existing asymmetries between countries and firms are bound to increase. |
| Keywords: | community patent; participation in R&D; R&D race |
| JEL: | L52 O34 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4883&r=tid |
| By: | Hoppe, Heidrun C.; Ozdenoren, Emre |
| Abstract: | The paper offers a new theoretical framework to examine the role of intermediaries between creators and users of new inventions. We find that uncertainty about the profitability of investing in new inventions generates a basis for intermediation. An intermediary may provide an opportunity to economize on a critical component of efficient investment decisions - the expertise to sort `profitable' from `unprofitable' inventions. Our findings may help explain the surge in university patenting and licensing since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. The study also identifies several limitations to the potential efficiency of intermediation in innovation. |
| Keywords: | innovation; Intermediation; market microstructure; matching; patent licensing; uncertainty |
| JEL: | D40 D80 L12 L13 O32 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4891&r=tid |
| By: | Cincera, Michele |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at assessing the impact of R&D spillovers on firms’ economic performance as measured by productivity growth. The construction of R&D spillovers is based on Jaffe’s methodology (1986, 1988), which associates econometrics and data analysis. The main objective of the paper is to extend Jaffe’s methodology by examining alternative methods for measuring R&D spillovers and to test their impacts in terms of the robustness of results. In particular, the method used to classify firms into technological clusters as well as the metrics implemented to appreciate firms’ technological proximities which enter the construction of spillovers are further investigated. In addition to R&D spillovers, firms’ own R&D capital, labour and physical capital are estimated by means of a Cobb-Douglas production function. The data set consists of a representative sample of 625 worldwide R&D-intensive firms over the period 1987-1994. |
| Keywords: | clustering; panel data; productivity growth; R&D Spillovers |
| JEL: | O12 O33 O47 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4894&r=tid |