1,605 research outputs found
European Integration and Knowledge Flows across European Regions
No full textCappelli R. and Montobbio F. European integration and knowledge flows across European regions, Regional Studies. Using data on inventor citations and inventor collaborations, changes in geographical patterns of knowledge flows between European regions during the period 1981–2000 are analysed. It is shown that inventor collaborations become less geographically localized, while inventor citations become more localized. The European integration process has a significant effect on reducing barriers to knowledge flows between new and old European Union members. For inventor citations, this effect relates only to the European Union enlargement of 1995 and is confined to knowledge flows from Austria, Finland and Sweden to old European Union members
Determinants of knowledge flows and their effect on economic growth.
No full textThis thesis consists of three essays that analyse the determinants of the diffusion of knowledge and their impact in terms of economic growth. The first essay analyses the patterns of diffusion of knowledge between European regions during the period 1981-2000. Knowledge flows are measured by two variables: patent citations and collaboration among inventors. A modified gravity model is estimated to show that geographical proximity and territorial borders are important barriers to knowledge flows during the period analysed and that their effects are greater for technological collaboration than for patent citation. We show that inventor propensity to collaborate within the same country decreases and inventor propensity to cite inventors residing in the same country increases. We show also that the geographical distance effect decreases only for inventor collaboration. Finally, we show that the EU enlargement processes during the period analysed have favoured knowledge flows between old and new EU members, although with significant differences for the two measures of knowledge flows. The second essay analyses the impact of knowledge capital on the economic growth of Italian regions for the period 1995-2007. To measure regional knowledge capital we use indicators for the processes of knowledge creation, i.e. R&D and patents, and the processes of diffusion of knowledge, i.e. patent citations and inventor mobility. We use a technology gap model to show that the economic growth of Italian regions can be explained by internal R&D activities and by the interregional mobility of inventors. The third essay analyses the impact of knowledge flows on economic performance at firm level. It distinguishes between various sources of knowledge flows, i.e. suppliers, customers, rivals and research institutions, and between two types of innovative activities, i.e. sales realized by products new to the firm but not to the market (imitation) and sales realized by products new to the firm and to the market (innovation).
We show that knowledge flows from rivals lead to more imitation, while knowledge flows from customers and research institutions enhance original innovation
Chapter Profilo minimo dell’opera di Riccardo Del Punta (1957-2022)
No full textThe author reconstructs and comments on the scientific production of Riccardo del Punta, examining his style, influences, lines of research, and legacy for labour law
Exiting the market by mergers and acquisitions. Does the crisis matter?
No full textWe explore whether and to what extent the business cycle affects the influence of firms' innovation profile on their market exit decisions through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This study suggests that the nature of innovation behind the M&A exit strategy is very different during crisis or non-crisis economic periods. We tested our hypothesis on a sample of 358 M&A that occurred in Europe before (145) and after (213) the financial crisis of 2008. The results of probit estimates show that: 1) internal R&D and product innovations are major drivers of M&A deals in young industries, whereas process innovations play a crucial role in mature industries; 2) patents are the only key innovation drivers of M&A after the crisis, both in young and mature industries. The mechanism behind these emergent behaviours allows to grasp some important aspects that are still not fully developed in the literature
Geographical distance puzzle in patent citations: intensive versus extensive margins
No full textThis paper explores the effects of geographical distance on knowledge spillovers through patent citations across 270 European regions. Despite decreasing transport and communication costs, geographical distance effects are strong and not decreasing. To address this distance puzzle, we distinguish between the extensive margin (the number of cited technologies) and the intensive margin (the average number of citations per technology) of patent citation flows. We confirm an increasing distance effect on knowledge flows at the extensive margin. We show it is compatible with decreasing transport and communication costs
PATENT STRATEGIES: TRADITIONAL, PROPRIETARY AND DEFENSIVE
No full textThe increasing importance of patents for firm strategy goes beyond the protection of inventions from imitation (traditional strategy). Patenting can generate rents by blocking the commercial endeavor of rivals (proprietary strategy) or avoiding the risk of being held-up by other patent owners (defensive strategy). This paper empirically investigates how the choice of patent strategy varies with the characteristics of patent owners and the technological environment where patents originate. We exploit data from a large-scale survey of patent applications at the European Patent Office to test our research hypotheses. Multinomial logit estimates yield the following results: (i) a defensive strategy is more likely to be pursued for patents that protect complex technologies and, conditional on complexity, the probability of opting for this strategy increases with the firms’ sunk capital investment; (ii) defensive patenting is also more likely when a firm faces competitors for the patent; (iii) a traditional strategy is more likely when the patented technology is closer to the firm’s core technologies; (iv) the likelihood of proprietary and defensive patenting increases with the number of overlapping claims with earlier patents
Clustering of financial time series
No full textThis paper addresses the topic of classifying financial time series in a fuzzy framework proposing two fuzzy clustering models both based on GARCH models. In general clustering of financial time series, due to their peculiar features, needs the definition of suitable distance measures. At this aim, the first fuzzy clustering model exploits the autoregressive representation of GARCH models and employs, in the framework of a partitioning around medoids algorithm, the classical autoregressive metric. The second fuzzy clustering model, also based on partitioning around medoids algorithm, uses the Caiado distance, a Mahalanobis-like distance, based on estimated GARCH parameters and covariances that takes into account the information about the volatility structure of time series. In order to illustrate the merits of the proposed fuzzy approaches an application to the problem of classifying 29 time series of Euro exchange rates against international currencies is presented and discussed, also comparing the fuzzy models with their crisp version. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
LCA Sensitivity Analysis of an Energy-Biochar Chain from an Italian Gasification Plant: Environmental Trade-offs Assessment
No full textDue to its potential applications in bioenergy production, coproducts (bio-oil and syngas), mitigation of global warming, sustainable agriculture, pollutant removal, and other uses, biochar has drawn interest from all over the world. Producing and using soil-based biochar as a method of carbon sequestration could help reduce emissions while benefiting the soil and opening up possibilities for bioenergy production. However, to characterize the production cycle’s environmental and energy loads and confirm all of the advantages of biochar, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) represents a reliable tool for evaluation. This work is based on continuing the study of Marzeddu and Cappelli (Marzeddu, Cappelli, et al., 2021) to understand the environmental impact of an energy-biochar chain involving a gasification plant in Italy. In the LCA carried out in the previous paper for the characterization of biochar, which is used as a soil conditioner, soil carbon sequestration, nitrous oxide emissions, fertilizer use, and water use for irrigation were considered. The results showed that the use of gasification for energy and biochar is an attractive strategy for mitigating the environmental impact analysis, especially climate change, with a net decrease of about ‒8.3·103 kg CO2, eq. The previous study was lacking a sensitivity analysis. For this reason, a sensitivity analysis is proposed in this study to consistently assess the environmental trade-offs of the biochar and the amended soil. In specific for the upstream processes the sensitivity is addressed to the selection of a different type of woodchips, for the core process in terms of selection of different packing material, and to the entire cradle-to-grave perspective by improving the logistics of the transportation, the distances within the supply chain and the choice of BAT technology for the transportation vehicles. This study highlights strategic research developments that combine to find potential environmental trade-offs and thresholds towards using biochar and its final use as a soil conditioner
Chapter Capability e diritto del lavoro: non solo teoria. Dialogando con Riccardo del Punta
No full textThe paper is a tribute to Riccardo Del Punta, intellectual and jurist. The common thread is the use of Capability Approach in labour law which links the Author to his friend who passed away prematurely. The essay is also an opportunity to revisit the basic foundations of the Capability theory and the recent debate among international labour law scholars with regard to its possible use in the great transformation induced by the double (green and digital) transition
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