|
on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Gianluca Biggi; Andrea Mina; Federico Tamagni |
| Abstract: | Using a firm-level dataset from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (2003-2016), this study explores the characteristics of environmentally innovative firms and quantifies the effects of pursuing different types of environmental innovation strategies (resource-saving, pollution-reducing, and regulation-driven innovations) on sales, employment, and productivity dynamics. The results indicate, first, that environmental innovations tend to be highly correlated with firms’ technological capabilities, although to varying degrees across types of environmental innovation, whereas structural characteristics are less significant. Second, we observe heterogeneous effects of different types of environmental innovation on performance outcomes. We find no evidence that any type of environmental innovation fosters sales growth while pollution-reducing and regulation-driven innovations boost employment growth. Moreover, both resource-saving and pollution-reducing innovations bring about productivity advantage. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Innovation; Green Investments, Resource-saving, Pollution-reduction, Envi- ronmental compliance; Firm performance. |
| Date: | 2023–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2023/42&r=tid |
| By: | Colin Wessendorf; Nils Grashof |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the influence of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) on radical innovation at the firm-level in 27 EU countries. KETs are a group of six technologies that are considered to be promising for Europe’s industrial competitiveness and innovativeness because they are horizontal and widely combinable, representing properties of General Purpose Technologies. We test this by investigating whether KET knowledge promotes the emergence of radical innovation in firms and whether regional specialization in KETs can moderate this relationship. Based on a unique firm-level database, our results show that KETs generally facilitate the emegence of radical innovation and that firms lacking KET knowledge in particular can benefit from being located in regions specialised in KETs. However, when focusing on the six individual KETs, the results get markedly heterogeneous and point to differences in the influence of engineering-oriented and science-based KETs. Our results therefore call for tailored, KET-specific, approaches – both in research and policy. |
| Keywords: | Radical Innovation, Recombinant Novelty, Knowledge Creation, General Purpose Technologies, Key Enabling Technologies, Firm-Level |
| JEL: | L25 O31 O33 R10 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2303&r=tid |
| By: | Nils Grashof; Alexander Kopka |
| Abstract: | Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as a key technology for economic growth. However, the impact of AI on firm productivity has been under researched – particularly through the lens of inequality and clusters. Based on a unique sample of German firms, filling at least one patent between 2013 and 2019, we find evidence for a positive influence of AI on firm productivity. Moreover, our analysis shows that while AI knowledge does not contribute to productivity divergences in general, it increases the productivity gap between laggard and all other firms. Nevertheless, this effect is reduced through the localisation in clusters. |
| Keywords: | Artificial intelligence, Inequality, Productivity, Clusters, Patents, Firm-level |
| JEL: | O18 O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2304&r=tid |
| 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: | 2022–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:poidwp:025&r=tid |
| By: | Darius Lambrecht; Jörn Block; Matthias Neuenkirch; Holger Steinmetz; Tom Willeke |
| Abstract: | Firms often struggle with the successful commercialization of innovations, and there is a need for reliable predictors. Prior research suggests that intellectual property (IP) rights play a key role in the commercialization of innovations. However, to what extent can IP rights be used to predict successful commercialization of innovations in the manufacturing industry? Our paper studies the role of patents and trademarks and their complementary and substitutive relationships to predict commercialization success as measured by sales. We also analyze potential reciprocal relationships between commercial success and IP rights. The relationships are explored in a panel dataset of 2, 617 German Mittelstand firms over a 10-year period. The results of a panel vector autoregressive model show a short-lived positive effect of patents on sales growth and vice versa. However, no significant effects are found between trademarks and sales growth. Finally, a positive and complementary relationship between patents and trademarks is documented. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Commercialization, Patents, Trademarks, Panel Vector Autoregression |
| JEL: | O14 O30 O34 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:202310&r=tid |
| By: | Hussinger, Katrin; Issah, Wunnam |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the American Inventor's Protection Act, which introduced the disclosure of patent applications after 18 months, i.e. before a grant decision is taken and, hence, before it is known whether the respective technology receives legal protection, is associated with a reduction of family firms' research and development (R&D) investment. This suggests that early disclosure of patent applications is perceived as a threat to family firms' innovation activity and discourages their R&D investment. This finding deserves our attention because family firms account for a large share of the U.S. economy and a reduction of their R&D investment can have long-term consequences. |
| Keywords: | R&D investments, AIPA, Family firms, Socio-emotional wealth (SEW) |
| JEL: | O32 M14 O34 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:279811&r=tid |
| By: | Erik Arnold; Caroline Paunov; Sandra Planes-Satorra; Sylvia Schwaag Serger; Luke Mackle |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses five innovation policy imperatives critical to achieving green and digital transitions: coordinated government, stakeholder engagement, policy agility and experimentation, directionality and support for breakthrough innovation. The paper provides policy examples from Germany, based on the OECD Review of Innovation Policy: Germany, and other countries to illustrate in what ways countries have addressed these imperatives. Overall, the quality and scale of these policy responses need to increase if transitions are to succeed. Open questions for future policy research are also highlighted. |
| Keywords: | agile policy, breakthrough innovation, country policy examples, digital transformation, digital transition, directionality, Germany, governance, green transition, innovation policy, policy experimentation, stakeholder engagement, STI policy |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2023–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:162-en&r=tid |
| By: | Takeda, Kohei (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | Economies transform at an uneven pace. This paper develops a dynamic overlapping generations model of economic geography where historical exposure to different industries creates persistence in occupational structure, and non-homothetic preferences and differential productivity spillovers lead to different rates of structural transformation. The model is calibrated to the U.S. economy from 1980 to 2010. The calibration allows us to back out measures of upward mobility and inequality, thereby providing theoretical underpinnings for the Great Gatsby Curve. The counterfactual analysis reveals that structural transformation has substantial effects on a slowdown and explains heterogeneity in upward mobility across cities. |
| Date: | 2023–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:8nfx5&r=tid |
| By: | Akcigit, Ufuk; Alp, Harun; Diegmann, André; Serrano-Velarde, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a unique policy designed to maintain employment during the privatization of East German firms after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The policy required new owners of the firms to commit to employment targets, with penalties for non-compliance. Using a dynamic model, we highlight three channels through which employment targets impact firms: distorted employment decisions, increased productivity, and higher exit rates. Our empirical analysis, using a novel dataset and instrumental variable approach, confirms these findings. We estimate a 22% points higher annual employment growth rate, a 14% points higher annual productivity growth, and a 3.6% points higher probability of exit for firms with binding employment targets. Our calibrated model further demonstrates that without these targets, aggregate employment would have been 15% lower after 10 years. Additionally, an alternative policy of productivity investment subsidies proved costly and less effective in the short term. |
| Keywords: | industrial policy, privatizations, productivity, size-dependent regulations |
| JEL: | D22 D24 J08 L25 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:279550&r=tid |
| By: | Cátia Cerqueira (NIPE/Center for Research in Economics and Management, University of Minho, Portugal); Fernando Alexandre (NIPE/Center for Research in Economics and Management, University of Minho, Portugal); Miguel Portela (NIPE/Center for Research in Economics and Management, University of Minho, Portugal; and IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines firms’ characteristics and the impact on firm performance of being a first mover in the adoption of cloud computing and big data digital technologies, relative to followers and non-adopters. Our results show that firms with higher levels of education both for managers and workers, and shorter managerial tenure are more likely to be digital adopters. First movers in the adoption of big data show distinct characteristics from followers, namely they are younger and have a larger share of higher education workers. Regarding the impact on firm performance, we find that first movers in cloud computing experience significant performance gains, namely in gross value added and productivity, compared to non-adopters, but no gains relative to followers. Interestingly, first movers in big data exhibit a productivity edge over followers and non-adopters. Furthermore, we find that higher levels of education and shorter managerial tenure amplify the positive effects of big data adoption on firm performance. |
| Keywords: | cloud computing, big data, management, digitalization, productivity, ICT |
| JEL: | D24 M10 E22 E23 J24 O33 L20 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:11/2023&r=tid |
| By: | Iorio, Roberto (CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy); Segnana, Maria Luigia (Department of Economics and Management - University of Trento, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper originates from the endless question about whether corruption “greases or sands the wheels” of growth. Focusing on innovation at the firm level, the question becomes whether corruption hampers or enhances innovation. To explore this link we use a panel data obtained merging two BEEPS surveys (2012-2014 and 2018-2019) with 3916 units located in 24 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We suggest that, to deeply understand the nexus between corruption and innovation, it is needed to go beyond the average effect. In fact, the intensity as well as the direction of this link is clearly affected by two factors: the institutional context, particularly the country’s level of control of corruption, and the market context or the degree of market competition that firms face. The empirical analysis leads to the following conclusions: • the link between corruption and innovation is reinforced by the poor quality of the institutions; • the link between corruption and innovation is non linearly connected with the degree of competition. Its intensity is particularly strong when firms face a high competitive pressure, coming from a multitude of even informal firms. This implies that in some scenarios, characterized by low control of corruption and high competitive pressure, corruption is a way to “grease the wheels” of the innovation; in other contexts, with high control of corruption and moderate competitiveness, the link becomes weak if not negative, resembling the “sanding the wheels” hypothesis. From a policy point of view, as in the countries under inspection the impact of corruption on innovation differs over different competitive markets and institutional characteristics, it follows that uniform restrictions are not appropriate. |
| Keywords: | innovation; corruption; bribery; market competition |
| JEL: | O12 O31 P27 P51 |
| Date: | 2023–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:0165&r=tid |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This document provides an integrated view on income-based tax incentives for R&D and innovation. It brings together the latest evidence on the adoption, design, generosity, cost and take-up of income-based tax incentives, and gives new insights into both the long-term and short-term trends in the take-up of income-based tax incentives by business and their cost to governments, including role of policy design changes. Furthermore, the report explores the scope for developing indicators that provide a more complete picture of the value of expenditure- and income-based tax relief for R&D and innovation in the OECD area and beyond. |
| Keywords: | innovation, Research and development, tax incentives |
| JEL: | H25 O38 O34 |
| Date: | 2023–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:161-en&r=tid |
| By: | Amie M. Jobe; Roberto Ricciuti |
| Abstract: | Using the Economic Transformation Database, this paper attempts to assess the magnitude of structural transformation and the effects of sectoral shifts due to structural transformation on the labour market performance of 18 sub-Saharan African countries over the period from 1990 to 2018. The first part of this study examines some patterns of structural transformation in Africa, focusing on sectoral output shares, sectoral employment shares, and the relative labour productivity of sectors. We find that Africa is gradually advancing towards structural transformation but at a very slow speed. |
| Keywords: | Structural transformation, Employment, Labour market, Africa, Economic Transformation Database |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-138&r=tid |
| By: | Gene M. Grossman (Princeton University); Elhanan Helpman (Harvard University); Alejandro Sabal (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Forward-looking investments determine the resilience of firms' supply chains. Such investments confer externalities on other firms in the production network. We compare the equilibrium and optimal allocations in a general equilibrium model with an arbitrary number of vertical production tiers. Our model features endogenous investments in resilience, endogenous formation of supply links, and sequential bargaining over quantities and payments between firms in successive tiers. We derive policies that implement the first-best allocation, allowing for subsidies to input purchases, network formation, and investments in resilience. The first-best policies depend only on production function parameters of the pertinent tier. When subsidies to transactions are infeasible, the second-best subsidies for resilience and network formation depend on production function parameters throughout the network, and subsidies are larger upstream than downstream whenever the bargaining weights of buyers are non-increasing along the chain. |
| Keywords: | Firms, Resilience, Vertical Supply Chains |
| JEL: | D21 D62 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:econom:2023-03&r=tid |