nep-tid 2013-06-24 papers

on Technology and Industrial Dynamics

Issue of 2013‒06‒24
two papers chosen by
Rui Baptista
Technical University of Lisbon

Innovation for economic performance: The case of Latin American firms By Arias Ortiz, Elena; Crespi, Gustavo; Tacsir, Ezequiel; Vargas, Fernando; Zuniga, Pluvia
Who is Afraid of Pirates? An Experiment on the Deterrence of Innovation by Imitation By Christoph Engel; Marco Kleine

Innovation for economic performance: The case of Latin American firms

By:	Arias Ortiz, Elena (Education Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Crespi, Gustavo (Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Tacsir, Ezequiel (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, and Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Vargas, Fernando (Competitiveness and Innovation Division, Inter-American Development Bank); Zuniga, Pluvia (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG)
Abstract:	In this paper, a wide range of innovation indicators are analysed in order to describe the innovation behaviour of manufacturing firms in LAC using the recently released Enterprise Surveys 2010. The Enterprise Surveys define innovation rates as the share of firms introducing product and process innovations. The survey also measures the proportion of firms investing in research and development (R&D) and filing for intellectual property rights (IPRs). The aim of this note is to understand the main characteristics of innovative firms and to gather new evidence with regard to the nature of the innovation process in the region. Statistics about the performance of LAC firms are provided using different types of indicators to measure firms' innovative behaviour. In particular, differences in innovation performance and effort by country, sector, and key firm characteristics, such as being a multinational or exporter, are explored. Those firms in LAC that are top R&D performers are identified, and the analysis closes with an exploration of firm characteristics that strongly correlate with the probability of being a top R&D performer in the region.
Keywords:	innovation, research and development, Latin America, enterprise surveys
JEL:	D22 O31 O33 O34
Date:	2013
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2013028&r=tid

Who is Afraid of Pirates? An Experiment on the Deterrence of Innovation by Imitation

By:	Christoph Engel (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn); Marco Kleine (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)
Abstract:	In the policy debate, intellectual property is often justified by what seems to be a straightforward argument: if innovators are not protected against others appropriating their ideas, incentives for innovation are suboptimally low. Now in most industries for most potential users, appropriating a foreign innovation is itself an investment decision fraught with cost and risk. Nonetheless standard theory predicts too little innovation. Arguably the problem is exacerbated by innovators’ risk aversion as well as their aversion against others benefitting from their efforts without contributing to the cost, and without bearing innovation risk. We model the situation as a game and test it in the lab. We find even more appropriation than predicted by standard theory. But the risk and the experience of appropriation does not deter innovation. We find even more innovation than predicted by theory, and actually more than would be efficient. In the lab, the prospect of givingimitators a free lunch does not have a chilling effect on innovation.
Keywords:	Innovation, imitation, appropriation, patent, fairness of desert
JEL:	H41 O31 D63 K11 C91 D62 H23 L17 D22
Date:	2013–05
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2013_07&r=tid

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