1,721,014 research outputs found
The role of external knowledge(s) in the introduction of product and process innovations
Full text linkThis paper investigates the heterogeneity of the sources of external knowledge and their differentiated effects on process and product innovations respectively. The results of the empirical investigations show that the upstream vertical sources of external knowledge from suppliers exert a strong and positive role on the introduction of process innovations, whereas horizontal and downstream vertical sources stemming respectively from competitors and customers have stronger effects on the introduction of product innovations. These results support the hypothesis that the matching between sources of external knowledge and types of innovation is necessary to implement successful innovation strategies. The study suggests that the strategic decisions of R&D managers in innovation practices should take in greater consideration the availability of the differentiated sources of external knowledge in the system in which firms are embedded
THE ECONOMICS OF THE LIGHT ECONOMY. GLOBALIZATION, SKILL BIASED TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND SLOW GROWTH
Full text linkThe paper provides an interpretative framework and structured empirical evidence of the processes leading to the emergence of a light and slow growth economy in advanced countries. The interpretative framework rests upon the grafting of a) the Schumpeterian hypothesis about the role of creative reaction as the main determinant of the rate of technological change b) in a dynamic version of the Hecksher-Ohlin analysis with c) the Kuznets approach on the strict complementarity of structural and technological change, and d) the new approach about the direction of technological change biased towards the most intensive use of locally abundant production factors. The analysis of the stylized facts and the empirical evidence confirms that the twin globalization of product and capital markets brought about by the entry of new labor abundant countries in international markets had profound effects on advanced countries leading to the introduction of skill biased technological change with the consequent decline of the role of the manufacturing industry and the emergence of a strong knowledge intensive business service sector. The new biased direction of technological change accelerated the substitution of both capital and unskilled labor with skilled workers with the ultimate effect of reducing the stock of working capital and hence the rates of growth of advanced economies. The slow growth is a physiological feature of the new emerging light economies that rely upon knowledge intensive but capital saving technologies
The heterogeneity of knowledge and the academic mode of knowledge governance: Italian evidence in the first part of the 20th century
Full text linkThis paper considers university–industry relations, identifying the heterogeneity of academic knowledge
with respect to economic growth and analysing its implication for the working of the
academic mode of knowledge governance. It provides unique historical evidence on the
differentiated effects of academic spillovers, using professorial chairs distinguished by disciplinary
field, as a proxy, for the total factor productivity growth. The results shed light on the impacts of
the various disciplines on economic growth. The increase in the number of chairs in engineering
and chemistry contributed most to the growth in the total factor productivity. This is consistent
with the historical context, characterized by the radical transformation of a backward agricultural
economy into a highly industrialized, prosperous one. The results of this analysis stress the need
to control and direct the composition of the bundle of types of knowledge generated by the
academic system with the support of public subsidies
Foreign Human Capital and Total Factor Productivity : A Sectoral Approach
Full text linkWe analyze the role of migrants in productivity growth in the three largest European countries—France, Germany and the United Kingdom—in the years 1994–2007, using Total Factor Productivity. Unlike previous research, which mainly employs a regional approach, our analysis is at the sectoral level: this allows to distinguish the real contribution of migrants to productivity from possible inter-sectoral complementarities, which might also foster growth. We control for the share of migrants and the different components of human-capital, such as education, age and diversity, and adopt instrumental variables strategies to address the possible endogeneity of migration. The results show that migrants contribute to the productivity of the sectors in which they are employed, but with important differences: highly-educated migrants show a larger positive effect in high-tech sectors, and to a lesser extent in services sector. The diversity of countries of origin contributes to productivity growth only in the services sectors
The mechanisms of knowledge governance: State owned enterprises and Italian economic growth, 1950–1994
Full text linkWe investigate the mechanisms of knowledge governance and show that the actual economic benefits stemming from knowledge externalities depend on the characteristics of a) the sources of such externalities, b) the context in which spillovers take place, c) the potential users of the externalities. In the Italian experience of 1950-1994, state owned enterprises (SOE) have been one of the most effective mechanisms of knowledge governance. Italian SOE were effective sources of knowledge externalities as they imitated the US corporate model of intra-muros R&D laboratories. Research activities carried out by SOE were mainly based in upstream industries, with multiple user-producer interactions with firms active in downstream industries, and aimed at implementing a knowledge base characterized by high levels of generic content and a wide scope of application. These characteristics helped disseminate relevant knowledge externalities that played a positive role on total factor productivity in the second part of the XX century in Italy
THE CLIOMETRICS OF ACADEMIC CHAIRS. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE EVIDENCE ACROSS THE ITALIAN REGIONS 1900-1959
Full text linkThe paper elaborates and tests two hypotheses. First, that knowledge is not a homogeneous activity, but rather a bundle of highly differentiated disciplines that have different characteristics, both in terms of generation and exploitation, that bear a differen- tiated impact on economic growth. Advances in scientific knowledge that can be converted into technological knowledge with high levels of fungibility, appropriability, cumulability and complementarity have a higher chance to affect economic growth. Second, that academic chairs are a reliable indicator of the amount and types of knowledge being generated by the academic system. Hence the analysis of the evolution of the academic chairs of an academic system is a promising area of investigation. In this paper the exploration of the evolution of the size and the disciplinary composition of the stock of academic chairs in five Italian macro- regions in the years 1900–1959 provides an opportunity to understand the contribution of scientific knowledge to economic growth in each regional system. The econometric analysis confirms that advances in engineering and chemistry, as proxied by the number of chairs, had much a stronger effect on the regional economic growth than advances in other scientific fields. These results have important implications for research policy, as they highlight the differences in the economic effects of academic disciplines, and for the economics of science, as they support the hypothesis that academic chairs can be used as reliable indicators of on-going research activities in the different types of scientific knowledge
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Leaving the multinational: the likelihood and nature of employee mobility from MNEs
Full text linkThe mobility of workers from multinational enterprises (MNEs) to other local firms is increasingly recognized as an important externality mechanism. However. MNEs have strong incentives to curb this mobility to prevent leakage of firm-specific assets (FSAs). This research note investigates the likelihood and nature of such mobility patterns. Using longitudinal, matched employer-employee data for Sweden with detailed information on individuals, establishments, and firms, we find that workers employed in MNEs are more likely to leave their employers, compared to similar workers employed in non-MNEs with similar characteristics. This effect is particularly strong for high-wage workers and managers. While we find that workers who leave MNEs are more likely to move to other MNEs, our results identify significant mobility toward start-ups, thus leading to important industrial dynamics in the host country. We discuss the implications of these results for research on the externalities from MNEs, and international business theory
Skilled migration and innovation in European industries
Full text linkThis paper studies the effects of skilled migration on innovation –proxied by patent citations- in European industries between 1994 and 2005, using the French and the UK Labour Force Surveys and the German Microcensus. Highly-educated migrants have a positive effect on innovation, but the effect differs across industries. It is stronger in industries with low levels of overeducation, high levels of FDIs and openness to trade and, finally, in industries with higher ethnic diversity. The aggregate effect of the skilled immigrant is about one third the one of the skilled natives. We tackle the endogeneity of migrants with a set of external and internal instruments
Are Migrants Spurring Innovation?
Full text linkThe MPC is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Union
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