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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Jaan Masso; Amaresh K Tiwari |
| Abstract: | We study the productivity implications of R&D, capital accumulation, and innovation output for entrants and incumbents in Estonia. First, in contrast to developed economies, a small percentage of firm engage in formal R&D, but a much larger percentage innovate. Second, while we find no difference in the R&D elasticity of productivity for the entrants and incumbents, the impact of innovation output - many of which are a result of 'doing, using and interacting' (DUI) mode of innovation - is found to be higher for the entrants. Entrants who innovate are 21% to 30% more productive than entrants who do not; the corresponding figures for the incumbents are 10% to 13%. Third, despite the adverse sectoral composition typical of catching-up economies, Estonian incumbents, who are the primary carriers of 'scientific and technologically-based innovative' (STI) activities, are comparable to their counterparts in developed economies in translating STI activities into productivity gains. Fourth, while embodied technological change through capital accumulation is found to be more effective in generating productivity growth than R&D, the effectiveness is higher for firms engaging in R&D. Finally, our results suggest that certain policy recommendations for spurring productivity growth in technologically advanced economies may not be applicable for catching-up economies. |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2205.10540&r= |
| By: | Bellelli, Francesco S.; Xu, Ankai |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how environmental policies impact trade and innovation in environmental goods. We make two major contributions to the economic debate. First, we extract a set of information from the WTO Environmental Database (EDB) through natural language processing techniques that could be useful for future research and policy analysis. Second, we use this data to test a set of economic hypotheses on how environmental measures impact environmental innovation and trade. Our findings show that environmental measures can be an effective tool for stimulating green innovation and trade in green goods. However, policy design matters. Green innovation is most sensitive to R&D expenditure and measures on intellectual property protection and enforcement, whereas trade in green goods increases with environmental subsidies and support measures. Conversely, we find that non-tariff barriers - such as quarantine requirements, import quotas, regulation affecting movement or transit - reduce both imports and exports of environmental goods. Our findings also highlight strong path dependency in innovation. Hence, the earlier the intervention, the greater the accumulated benefits from green innovation. Conversely, delays in intervention increase the cost of transition by further "locking-in" the economy on dirtier exports and technologies. Finally, our result highlight that there is a clear linkage between innovation and trade. Past patents are a strong predictor of future exports, and nations tend to innovate more in technologies related to their exports. We also find evidence of strong technological spillovers across countries and sectors integrated in Global Value Chains (GVC). Hence, integration in environmental goods' GVCs could provide further channels of green technology diffusion and development. |
| Keywords: | trade and environment,environmental policies,innovation |
| JEL: | F14 F18 O38 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd20223&r= |
| By: | Andreas Teichgraeber; John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | What research and innovation (R&I) policies should Europe adopt? The world faces a challenge to rebuild after the pandemic, but also faces the same structural slowdown of productivity growth that occurred in the decades before the COVID crisis. We need to have a plan around innovation policy to address the challenge. We show that Europe is less innovative on many dimensions compared to other advanced regions, such as the US and parts of Asia. We review the econometric evidence on R&I policies and argue that there is good evidence for the efficacy of many of them. A mix of R&D subsidies, reinvigorated competition and a big push on expanding the quantity and quality of human capital is needed. These could be bound together around the need for green innovation in order to achieve the mission to radically reduce carbon emissions. |
| Keywords: | innovation, R&D, human capital, Europe |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1832&r= |
| By: | Alexander M. Petersen |
| Abstract: | We develop a systematic approach to measuring combinatorial innovation in the biomedical sciences based upon the comprehensive ontology of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). This approach leverages an expert-defined knowledge ontology that features both breadth (27,875 MeSH analyzed across 25 million articles indexed by PubMed from 1902 onwards) and depth (we differentiate between Major and Minor MeSH terms to identify differences in the knowledge network representation constructed from primary research topics only). With this level of uniform resolution we differentiate between three different modes of innovation contributing to the combinatorial knowledge network: (i) conceptual innovation associated with the emergence of new concepts and entities (measured as the entry of new MeSH); and (ii) recombinant innovation, associated with the emergence of new combinations, which itself consists of two types: peripheral (i.e., combinations involving new knowledge) and core (combinations comprised of pre-existing knowledge only). Another relevant question we seek to address is whether examining triplet and quartet combinations, in addition to the more traditional dyadic or pairwise combinations, provide evidence of any new phenomena associated with higher-order combinations. Analysis of the size, growth, and coverage of combinatorial innovation yield results that are largely independent of the combination order, thereby suggesting that the common dyadic approach is sufficient to capture essential phenomena. Our main results are twofold: (a) despite the persistent addition of new MeSH terms, the network is densifying over time meaning that scholars are increasingly exploring and realizing the vast space of all knowledge combinations; and (b) conceptual innovation is increasingly concentrated within single research articles, a harbinger of the recent paradigm shift towards convergence science. |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2205.11632&r= |
| By: | Antonio Acconcia; Sergio Beraldo; Carlo Capuano; Marco Stimolo |
| Abstract: | We implement an experimental design based on a duopoly game in which subjects choose whether to cooperate in Research and Development (R&D) activities. We first conduct six experimental markets that differ in both the levels of knowledge spillovers and the intensity of competition. Consistently with the theory, we find that the probability of cooperation increases in the level of spillovers and decreases in that of market competition. We then replicate the experimental markets by providing subsidies to subjects who cooperate. Subsidies relevantly increase the probability of cooperation in focus markets, causing, however, a sensible reduction of R&D investments. Overall, our evidence suggests that, depending on the characteristics of the market, the use of public subsidies might be redundant, for firms would anyway joined their R&D efforts; or counterproductive, inducing firms to significantly reduce R&D investments compared to the non-cooperative scenario. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation in R&D; Public subsidies; knowledge spillovers; market competition. |
| JEL: | L24 O3 |
| Date: | 2022–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2022_04&r= |
| By: | Matteo Lanzafame |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the impact of demographic change on labor productivity growth, relying on annual data over 1961-2018 for a panel of 90 advanced and emerging economies. We find that increases in both the young and old population shares have significantly negative effects on labor productivity growth, working via various channels - including physical and human capital accumulation. Splitting the analysis for advanced and emerging economies shows that population ageing has a greater effect on emerging economies than on advanced economies. Extending the benchmark model to include a proxy for the robotization of production, we find evidence indicating that automation reduces the negative effects of unfavorable demographic change - in particular, population aging - on labor productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Demographic change; labor productivity; robots. |
| JEL: | C33 J11 O40 |
| Date: | 2022–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2022_03&r= |
| By: | Abraham Assefa; Darya Lapitskaya; Lenno Uusküla |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the effects of technology shocks on the creation and destruction of firms. Using US data and a VAR model the paper finds Schumpeterian creative destruction for investment-specific technology shocks. A positive investment-specific technology shock increases the number of firms opening, but also leads to a higher number of firms closing. In contrast, labour-neutral technology shocks also benefit old firms. An increase in overall productivity leads to an increase in the number of new firms and a drop in the number of failures. Both margins contribute to an increase in the number of firms in the economy. A medium-scale DSGE model with endogenous entry and exit that is that is augmented with additional features is able to capture these stylised facts. |
| Keywords: | VAR, DSGE, Firm dynamics, Productivity, Firm turnover, Technology shocks, Investment specific technology shocks |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:141&r= |
| By: | Cozzi, Guido; Galli, Silvia |
| Abstract: | Should the intellectual property rights on the first Covid-19 vaccines be temporarily lifted in applying the Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) flexibility? Is it right to grant the first generation of Covid-19 vaccines a special treatment from an IPR perspective? On what grounds? By extensively reviewing the available medical and economic literature on the subject, this chapter will guide the reader step-by-step to the leading scientific, political, and cultural challenges in granting broad worldwide access to vaccination. The accumulated delays in providing effective Covid-19 vaccine intervention in the low- and middle-income countries are ultimately responsible for the virus circulation at the global level and the proliferation of immunity-escaping variants. Therefore governmental rationality around the world would suggest any possible active policy tool to scale up the current vaccines supply. However, not to prevent future investment in R&D, the governments should bear the cost of the expected increased industry obsolescence determined by a temporary patent waiver; this includes public patent-buy-outs and regulated public-private R&D partnerships. |
| Keywords: | Vaccines,Covid-19,Pandemics,Patents,Innovation |
| JEL: | I18 O30 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1095&r= |
| By: | Jan Weber, Jan Schulz |
| Abstract: | We document two novel stylized facts on European integration and cohesion. First, we show that the interregional income distribution, measured as GDP per capita at the NUTS-3 level, is bimodal for all considered years. Second, we demonstrate that this mixture of two log-normal distributions provides an excellent fit for this interregional distribution in all considered years. We put forward two meso-level interpretations of these stylized facts, based on heterodox growth theory: The log-normality of the individual clusters hints at a stochastically multiplicative process, where growth is strongly path-dependent. This can be derived from maximum entropy considerations. However, the bimodality in the income distributions also implies two separate growth mechanisms. We show that the high-variance log-normal distribution governs the dynamics at both tails of the income distribution, which might be interpreted as the core and periphery and the low-variance variant the bulk of the distribution, thus interpretable as a semi-periphery. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Europe; Maximum Entropy; Geometric Brownian Motion; Core; Periphery; Resilience JEL Classification: C46, D63, F15, F43, C14, C63 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2022_01&r= |