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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Birkeneder, Antonia; Brunow, Stephan; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the link between innovation and the endowments of creative and science-oriented STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - workers at the level of the firm and at the city-/regional-level in Germany. It also looks into whether the presence of these two groups of workers has greater benefits for larger cities than smaller locations, thus justifying policies to attract these workers in order to make German cities 'smarter'. The empirical analysis is based on a probit estimation, covering 115,000 firm-level observations between 1998 and 2015. The results highlight that firms that employ creative and STEM workers are more innovative than those that do not. However, the positive connection of creative workers to innovation is limited to the boundaries of the firm, whereas that of STEM workers is as associated to the generation of considerable innovation spillovers. Hence, attracting STEM workers is more likely to end up making German cities smarter than focusing exclusively on creative workers. |
| Keywords: | Creative workers; Germany; Innovation; Smart Cities; Spillover; STEM workers |
| JEL: | J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12695&r=tid |
| By: | Joana Costa (Universidade de Aveiro); Anabela Botelho (Universidade de Aveiro); Aurora Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | The analysis of persistence in innovation can improve the understanding of firm dynamics, anticipate the effects of the different policy actions, correct macroeconomic disequilibria, help in designing the correct policies to boost R&D and, consequently, generate prosperity. Persistence of innovation is empirically explored mostly using the case of innovation leaders or followers, which may not apply to countries with poorer performances in terms of innovation. Studying the case of a moderate innovator may shed some light into the different conditions of firms and their attitude towards persistence, as well as the adoption of different policy actions to observe this heterogeneity. Additionally, the effect of firm size and industry has not yet been fully explored by the literature on innovation persistence. The present paper analyses the persistence of innovation using a dynamic panel comprising 1099 firms operating in all economic sectors of a moderate innovator country, Portugal. Firms are observed in three waves of the Portuguese part of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), from 2004 to 2010. Using the random effects probit model, the persistence hypothesis fails to be corroborated. Such result suggest that innovation policy programs do not have long-lasting effect on innovative behavior of firms and it is unlikely that incumbent past innovators be the drivers of creative accumulation and future innovation. There is, however, some evidence that new, smaller, innovators might lead the creative wave. In this vein, there might be a rational to encourage public policies targeting start-up firms and new market entrants when innovation is the main primary funding goal. |
| Keywords: | Persistence, Innovation, State dependence, Firms, Community Innovation Survey, Portugal |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0094&r=tid |
| By: | Francesco Cinnirella; Jochen Streb |
| Abstract: | We argue that, for a given level of scientific knowledge, tolerance and diversity are conducive to technological creativity and innovation. In particular, we show that variations in innovation within Prussia during the second industrial revolution can be ascribed to differences in religious tolerance that developed in continental Europe from the Peace of Westphalia onwards. By matching a unique historical dataset about religious tolerance in 1,278 Prussian cities with valuable patents for the period 1877-1890, we show that higher levels of religious tolerance are strongly positively associated with innovation during the second industrial revolution. Religious tolerance is measured through population’s religious diversity, diversity of churches, and diversity of preachers and religious teachers, respectively. Endogeneity issues are addressed using local variation across cities, within counties. Estimates using preindustrial levels of religious tolerance address issues of reverse causality. As for the channels of transmission, we find significant complementarity between religious tolerance and human capital. Furthermore, we find that cities with higher levels of religious tolerance attracted a larger share of migrants. Finally, higher levels of religious diversity in the population translated into higher levels of religious diversity in the workforce by industrial sector. This result suggests that religious diversity did not generate labor market segmentation by denomination but might have fostered interaction of different denominations. |
| Keywords: | tolerance, openness, pluralism, diversity, innovation, patenting activity |
| JEL: | N13 N33 O14 O31 Z12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6797&r=tid |
| By: | Arts, Sam; Veugelers, Reinhilde |
| Abstract: | Matching survey data on Ph.D. scientists and engineers currently working in an R&D job in industry with their publications and patents, we study the relationship between their individual traits and the nature of their inventive performance. We find that individuals with a strong taste for science, i.e. motivated by intellectual challenge, independence, and contribution to society, create more novel and impactful patents. Academic boundary spanning, proxied by scientific publications co-authored with academic scientists, mediates the effect of taste for science, but only partly and only on impact-weighted inventive output. For novelty of inventive output, we find no mediation through academic boundary spanning. Individuals with a strong taste for salary collaborate less with academic scientists, fully mediating the negative effect of taste for salary on impact-weighted inventive output. |
| Keywords: | industry-science links; taste for science |
| JEL: | O31 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12704&r=tid |
| By: | Samuel Bazzi; Amalavoyal V. Chari; Shanthi Nataraj; Alexander D. Rothenberg |
| Abstract: | Despite the importance of agglomeration externalities in theoretical work, evidence for their nature, scale, and scope remains elusive, particularly in developing countries. Identification of productivity spillovers between firms is a challenging task, and estimation typically requires, at a minimum, panel data, which are often not available in developing country contexts. In this paper, we develop a novel identification strategy that uses information on the network structure of producer relationships to provide estimates of the size of productivity spillovers. Our strategy builds on that proposed by Bramoulle et al. (2009) for estimating peer effects, and is one of the first applications of this idea to the estimation of productivity spillovers. We improve upon the network structure identification strategy by using panel data and validate it with exchange-rate induced trade shocks that provide additional identifying variation. We apply this strategy to a long panel dataset of manufacturers in Indonesia to provide new estimates of the scale and size of productivity spillovers. Our results suggest positive productivity spillovers between manufacturers in Indonesia, but estimates of TFP spillovers are considerably smaller than similar estimates based on firm-level data from the U.S. and Europe, and they are only observed in a few industries. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-1182&r=tid |
| By: | Link, Albert (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics); Scott, John (Dartmouth College, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The Schumpeterian hypothesis about the effect of firm size on research and development (R&D) output is studied for a sample of R&D projects for R&D-intensive firms that are small but have substantial variance in their sizes. Across the distribution of firm sizes, the elasticity of patenting with respect to R&D ranged from 0.41 to 0.55, with the elasticities being largest for intermediate levels of firm size and also varying directly with the extent to which the projects are Schumpeterian in the cost or value senses. The paper’s findings at the R&D project level are compared with the literature’s findings at the line of business, firm, and industry levels, and the findings are consistent with the literature’s findings for small firms. |
| Keywords: | Patents; Research and Development (R&D); Firm Size; Schumpeterian hypothesis; Technological Progress; Innovation |
| JEL: | L10 L20 L25 O30 |
| Date: | 2018–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2018_001&r=tid |
| By: | Aum, Sangmin; Lee, Tim; Shin, Yongseok |
| Abstract: | Aggregate productivity growth in the U.S. has slowed down since the 2000s. We quantify the importance of differential productivity growth across occupations and across industries, and the rise of computers since the 1980s, for the productivity slowdown. Complementarity across occupations and industries in production shrinks the relative size of those with high productivity growth, reducing their contributions toward aggregate productivity growth, resulting in its slowdown. We find that such a force, especially the shrinkage of occupations with above-average productivity growth through \routinization," was present since the 1980s. Through the end of the 1990s, this force was countervailed by the extraordinarily high productivity growth in the computer industry, of which output became an increasingly more important input in all industries (\computerization"). It was only when the computer industry's productivity growth slowed down in the 2000s that the negative effect of routinization on aggregate productivity became apparent. We also show that the decline in the labor income share can be attributed to computerization, which substitutes labor across all industries. |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:32481&r=tid |
| By: | Ejermo, Olof (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Toivanen, Hannes (Teqmine) |
| Abstract: | In 2007 Finland changed ownership rights to inventions from its employees – "the professor’s privilege" – to universities. We investigate how this change affected academic patenting using new data on inventors and patenting in Finland for the period 1995- 2010. Matched sample panel data regressions using difference-in-differences show that patenting by individuals dropped by at least 29 percent after 2007. Unlike other countries studied, in Finland the reform was known before implementation. Adding the period after announcement to the reform period increases the drop in academic patenting to 46 percent. Our and others’ results call into question whether the European reform of the professor’s privilege were good innovation policy. |
| Keywords: | academic patenting; Finland; professor’s privilege; university ownership |
| JEL: | I23 I28 O31 O32 O34 O38 |
| Date: | 2018–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_006&r=tid |
| By: | Bengtsson, Lars (Faculty of Engineering, Lund University); Tavassoli, Sam (RMIT) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of Business Model Innovation (BMI) on the product innovation performance of firms, based on a dynamic capabilities theoretical framework. Our empirical study is based on a large-scale representative sample of cross-industry Swedish firms participating in the last three waves of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) from 2006–2012. Our findings provide support for the dynamics capabilities theoretical framework as well as broad evidence of a significant and positive association between BMI and product innovation performance. Our results imply that BMI in the form of product innovations combined with different complementary innovations will act as isolating mechanisms towards replication by competitors. Therefore, managers should frame product innovations as part of a business model innovation and dynamically adapt the key elements of the firm’s business model. |
| Keywords: | Business model innovation; Business models; Dynamic capabilities; product innovation; Innovation performance; Community Innovation Survey |
| JEL: | D22 L20 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2018–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_004&r=tid |
| By: | McMillan, Margaret S.; Rodrik, Dani; Sepúlveda, Claudia |
| Abstract: | Can developing countries use industrialization, as the East Asian economies did, to try to catch up with the high-income countries? Structural Change, Fundamentals, and Growth says the answer is likely to be “no.†Rather, they will need to chart a new path to economic convergence that relies less on moving from low-productivity agriculture to higher-productivity manufacturing, and more on investing in health, education, and institutions—although the process will take longer this way. |
| Keywords: | structural change; economic development; economic growth; trade liberalization; productivity; trade policies; education; health; institutions, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:synops:9780896299788&r=tid |
| By: | Jullien, Bruno; Lefouili, Yassine |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the effects of horizontal mergers on innovation. We rely on the existing academic literature and our own research work to present the various positive and negative effects of mergers on innovation. Our analysis shows that, even in the absence of technological spillovers and R&D complementarities, the overall impact of a merger on innovation may be positive. We derive a number of policy implications regarding the way innovation effects should be handled by competition authorities in merger control and highlight the differences with the analysis of price effects. |
| Keywords: | Merger Policy; Innovation; R&D Investments |
| JEL: | K21 L13 L40 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:32480&r=tid |
| By: | Bayer, Christian; Meier, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Hsieh and Klenow (2009) quantifies aggregate TFP losses from misallocation through factor productivity dispersions and finds misallocation important in explaining international TFP differences. Using micro data from Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, and Germany, we document that dispersion in factor productivities is driven by dispersion in technology and markup. Relative to Germany, misallocation losses for the developing economies are explained to 1/3 by larger technology and to 2/3 by larger markup dispersion. Finally, we show that increased competition reduces technology dispersions but can cause larger markup dispersions as does more innovation. Hence, looking at markup dispersions alone might be misleading. |
| Keywords: | Competition; Development; Misallocation; productivity |
| JEL: | D24 E23 O47 |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12727&r=tid |
| By: | Hugo Pinto (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal / Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal); Tiago Santos Pereira (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal); Elvira Uyarra (Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK) |
| Abstract: | Recent research has found evidence of a variety of business profiles regarding innovation during the economic downturn. Several studies reported that firms were reducing or abandoning innovation activities and dropping related expenses while other authors have found that some firms are exploring the economic turbulence as an opportunity for creative destruction and to gain competitive advantage. This article explores the data collected from the last waves of CIS (Community Innovation Survey) in Portugal (2006-2008-2010-2012) to understand the changes in the determinants of the development of innovation activities, product and process innovation, before, during and in the peak of the crisis. The empirical study presents limited dependent variable models to analyse the relevance of structural factors, absorptive capacity and strategic variables in the different periods. The article concludes with implications for the behaviour of firms and innovation resilience. |
| Keywords: | CIS; crisis; exploitation; exploration; innovation; persistence; resilience |
| JEL: | C21 C25 O31 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:0098&r=tid |