|
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Iain M. Cockburn; Megan J. MacGarvie |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of software patents on entry and exit in 27 narrowly-defined classes of software products, using a dataset with comprehensive coverage of both mature public firms and small privately held firms between 1994 and 2004. Reflecting the complex economics underlying the relationship between patent protection, entry costs and industry structure, we find that patents have a mixture of effects on entry and exit. Controlling for firm and market characteristics, firms are less likely to enter product classes in which there are more software patents. However, all else equal, firms that hold software patents are more likely to enter these markets. The net effect on entry of increasing the number of software patents is difficult to measure precisely: estimates of the effect of an across-the-board 10% increase in patent holdings on the number of entrants into the average market in this sample range from -5% to +3.5%, with quite large standard errors. Evidence on exit and survival is consistent with these findings - holding patents appears to enhance the survival prospects of firms after entering a market. |
| JEL: | L1 L6 O34 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12563&r=tid |
| By: | Elad Harison; Heli Koski |
| Keywords: | open source, software market, innovative business strategies |
| JEL: | L11 L86 M21 O32 |
| Date: | 2006–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1042&r=tid |
| By: | Zoltan Acs; Pamela Mueller |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between business dynamics and employment effects in 320 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). Much of the theoretical work on industry dynamics focuses on the role of noisy selection and incomplete information on entry and survival. We extend this research by looking at the impact of firm heterogeneity on employment persistence. We find that only start-ups with greater than twenty employees have persistent employment effects over time and only in large diversified metropolitan regions. Therefore, both the type of entry and the characteristics of the region are important for employment growth. |
| Keywords: | Industry dynamics, new business formation, employment effects, regions |
| JEL: | J6 L6 L8 M13 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:egpdis:2006-23&r=tid |
| By: | Vives, Xavier (IESE Business School) |
| Abstract: | The effects of competition on process and product innovation are analyzed, obtaining robust results that hold for a range of market structures. It is found that increasing the number of firms tends to reduce R&D effort, whereas increasing the degree of product substitutability, with or without free entry, increases R&D effort -provided that the total market for product varieties does not shrink. Increasing the total market size increases R&D effort and has ambiguous effects on the number of varieties offered, while decreasing the cost of entry increases the number of entrants and varieties but reduces R&D effort per variety. The framework and results shed light on empirical strategies to assess the impact of competition on innovation. |
| Keywords: | cost reduction; X-inefficiency; market concentration; market size; substitutability; product introduction; corporate governance; globalization; |
| Date: | 2006–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0634&r=tid |
| By: | Gertjan Driessen; Mark Lijesen; Machiel Mulder |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically explores the relationship between competition design and productive efficiency in the railway industry. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to construct efficiency scores, and explain these scores, using variables reflecting institutional factors and competition design. Our results suggest that competitive tendering improves productive efficiency, which is in line with economic intuition as well as with expectations on the design of competition. We also find that free entry lowers productive efficiency. A possible explanation for this result is that free entry may disable railway operators to reap economies of density. Our final result is that more autonomy of management lowers productive efficiency. Most of the incumbent railway companies are state owned and do not face any competitive pressure. As a consequence, increased independence without sufficient competition and adequate regulation may deteriorate incentives for productive efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Rail transport; Efficiency; competition design |
| JEL: | D24 H42 L22 L25 L33 L92 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:71&r=tid |
| By: | Jackie Krafft (CNRS); Evens Salies (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:0616&r=tid |