nep-tid New Economics Papers
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics
Issue of 2015‒01‒26
six papers chosen by
Fulvio Castellacci
Universitetet i Oslo

  1. A Taxonomy of Multi-Industry Labour Force Skills By Consoli,Davide; Rentocchini,Francesco
  2. Capacities and Absorptive Barriers for International R&D Spillovers through Intermediate Inputs By Neil Foster-McGregor; Johannes Pöschl; Robert Stehrer
  3. Persistence of various types of innovation analysed and explained By Karlsson, Charlie; Tavssoli, Sam
  4. Intangible assets and firm-level productivity By Crass, Dirk; Peters, Bettina
  5. Technology and Labor Regulations: Theory and Evidence By Alberto Alesina; Michele Battisti; Joseph Zeira
  6. An empirical study of technological leadership and persistence in product innovation By Roberto Fontana,; Diana Moriniello,; Andrea Vezzulli Abstract. We study how technological leadership affects persistence in product innovation. Relying upon a database of 1818 products marketed between 1990 and 1999 by 265 firms active in three markets of the Local Area Network (LAN) industry we first construct a measure of technological leadership and then relate this measure to persistence in innovation. We find that leaders are systematically more persistent innovators than laggards. We also find that leaders in one market can also systematically innovate in a related and adjacent market. Finally, we find a positive correlation between prior patenting activity and persistence in product innovation.

  1. By: Consoli,Davide; Rentocchini,Francesco
    Abstract: This paper proposes an empirical study of the skill repertoires of 290 sectors in the United States over the period 2002-2011. We use information on employment structures and job content of occupations to flesh out structural characteristics of industry-specific know-how. The exercise of mapping the skills structures embedded in the workforce yields a taxonomy that discloses novel nuances on the organization of industry. In so doing we also take an initial step towards the integration of labour and employment in the area of innovation studies.
    Keywords: Industry dynamics, Skills, Taxonomy
    JEL: C38 L0 J24 O33
    Date: 2015–01–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201501&r=tid
  2. By: Neil Foster-McGregor (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Johannes Pöschl (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)
    Abstract: Abstract Trade in goods and services is likely to be an important channel for international knowledge diffusion. This paper considers the extent of R&D spillovers through intermediate inputs for a sample of up to 40 developed and developing countries. Results suggest that such spillovers are present and are economically important. We find that countries and industries initially further behind the technological frontier enjoy stronger foreign R&D spillovers. Furthermore, foreign R&D spillovers are stronger in countries with greater absorptive capacity as measured by average years of secondary schooling and R&D spending. In terms of absorption barriers, the results are mixed With the exception of regulations on temporary workers we find that stronger labour market regulation and greater union density is associated with lower foreign R&D spillovers. The evidence for other absorption barriers related to product market, financial and investment regulation provide however no evidence of low regulation encouraging foreign R&D spillovers, with - in some cases - the reverse being found to hold true. Finally, we find that stronger levels of IPR protection can limit the extent of foreign R&D spillovers, possibly by limiting the ability to copy and borrow technology from abroad.
    Keywords: R&D spillovers, intermediates trade, productivity
    JEL: F15 O14 O19
    Date: 2014–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:108&r=tid
  3. By: Karlsson, Charlie (Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Blekinge Institute of Technology & Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS)); Tavssoli, Sam (Blekinge Institute of Technology)
    Abstract: This paper analyses the persistency in innovation behaviour of firms. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced the innovative behaviour of firms over a ten-year period, i.e. between 2002 and 2012. We distinguish between four types of innovations: process, product, marketing, and organizational innovations. First, using Transition Probability Matrix, we found evidence of (unconditional) state dependence in all types of innovation, with product innovators having the strongest persistent behaviour. Second, using a dynamic probit model, we found evidence of “true” state dependency among all types of innovations, except marketing innovators. Once again, the strongest persistency was found for product innovators.
    Keywords: persistence; innovation; product innovations; process innovations; market innovations; organizational innovations; state dependence; heterogeneity; firms; Community Innovation Survey
    JEL: D22 L20 O31 O32
    Date: 2015–01–16
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0392&r=tid
  4. By: Crass, Dirk; Peters, Bettina
    Abstract: Firms invest huge amounts into intangible assets. This paper explores to which extent different kinds of intangible assets are conducive to firm-level productivity. Our study contributes to the literature by simultaneously comparing productivity effects of innovative capital, human capital, branding capital and organizational capital and testing whether complementarity or substitutability exists between different intangible assets. Using panel data for the period 2006-2010, our econometric estimates confirm strong positive productivity effects of human capital and branding capital. Results for innovative capital are found to be mixed. While R&D has a strong positive impact on productivity, design & licences and patents show only weak productivity enhancing effects. The same holds for organizational capital. We furthermore detect several complementarities among different kind of intangible assets. Our results are robust to various parametric (OLS, FE) and non-parametric (Olley and Pakes, Levinsohn and Petrin) productivity estimation methods.
    Keywords: Intangible capital,productivity,R&D,marketing,firm-specific human capital,organizational capital,patents,trademarks
    JEL: O33 C23 J24 L22
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14120&r=tid
  5. By: Alberto Alesina; Michele Battisti; Joseph Zeira
    Abstract: This paper shows that different labor market policies can lead to differences in technology across sectors in a model of labor saving technologies. Labor market regulations reduce the skill premium and as a result, if technologies are labor saving, countries with more stringent labor regulation, which are binding for low skilled workers, become less technologically advanced in their high-skilled sectors, and more technologically advanced in their low-skilled sectors. We then present data on capital output ratios, on estimated productivity levels and on patent creation, which support the predictions of our model.
    JEL: J31 J50 O33
    Date: 2015–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20841&r=tid
  6. By: Roberto Fontana,; Diana Moriniello,; Andrea Vezzulli Abstract. We study how technological leadership affects persistence in product innovation. Relying upon a database of 1818 products marketed between 1990 and 1999 by 265 firms active in three markets of the Local Area Network (LAN) industry we first construct a measure of technological leadership and then relate this measure to persistence in innovation. We find that leaders are systematically more persistent innovators than laggards. We also find that leaders in one market can also systematically innovate in a related and adjacent market. Finally, we find a positive correlation between prior patenting activity and persistence in product innovation.
    Date: 2014–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp212014&r=tid

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