1,721,195 research outputs found
Preferential attachment in multiple trade networks
Full text linkIn this paper we develop a model for the evolution of multiple networks which is able to replicate the concentrated and sparse nature of world trade data. Our model is an extension of the preferential attachment growth model to the case of multiple networks. Countries trade a variety of goods of different complexity. Every country progressively evolves from trading less sophisticated to high-tech goods. The probabilities of capturing more trade opportunities at a given level of complexity and of starting to trade more complex goods are both proportional to the number of existing trade links. We provide a set of theoretical predictions and simulative results. A calibration exercise shows that our model replicates the same concentration level of world trade as well as the sparsity pattern of the trade matrix. We also discuss a set of numerical solutions to deal with large multiple networks
The network origins of Schumpeterian innovation
Full text linkThis paper investigates the key driving features of the evolving long-term division of innovative labor in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals from 1981 to 2012. Our main goal is to find if technological trajectories and mechanisms discovered by Orsenigo et al. (Res Policy 30(3): 485–508, 2001) as the main drivers of the structural configuration of the network of collaborative alliances have been at work in the long-term evolution of the industry. We extensively analyze the evolving dynamics of the degree distribution and the higher order properties of the R&D network. As in Orsenigo et al. (Res Policy 30(3): 485–508, 2001), we find that polarization through preferential attachment driven by large pharmaceutical companies as Developers and by the entry of new specialized biotechnology companies acting as Originators of new R&D opportunities dominated the early stages of the biotechnology revolution. Later on the evolution of the collaborative network has been shaped by roles’ transitions between Originators and Developers of innovative ideas. Against this background, we introduce parsimonious model of network formation and evolution is introduced, to account for some essential features of the data generating processes underlying the evolution of the network
The Sustainability of European Health Care Systems: Beyond Income and Ageing. WP Series University of Verona Department of Economics (ISSN 2036-4679)
No full textThe productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D. WP Series University of Verona Department of Economics (ISSN 2036-4679)
No full textPatent Value and R&D Competition. WP Series University of Verona Department of Economics (ISSN 2036-4679)
No full textLearning from Failures or Failing to Learn? Lessons from Pharmaceutical R&D
No full textInnovation is a trial and error process in which both successes and failures contribute to knowledge creation and destruction. In this paper we test theoretical predictions about the role of failures in new product development on private and public knowledge and interfirm knowledge transfer. We analyse the outcomes of world-wide R&D projects in the pharmaceutical industry, and proxy knowledge flows with forward citations received by patents associated with each project. We find that patents covering successfully completed projects (i.e., leading to drug launch on the market) receive more citations than those associated to failed (terminated) projects, which in turn are cited more often than patents lacking clinical or preclinical information. Failures by specialized firms are cited more frequently than the ones of generalist companies. We therefore offer evidence of the value of failures as research inputs in (pharmaceutical) innovation
The productivity crisis in pharmaceutical R&D
No full textAdvances in the understanding of the molecular basis of diseases have expanded the number of plausible therapeutic targets for the development of innovative agents in recent decades. However, although investment in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) has increased substantially in this time, the lack of a corresponding increase in the output in terms of new drugs being approved indicates that therapeutic innovation has become more challenging. Here, using a large database that contains information on R&D projects for more than 28,000 compounds investigated since 1990, we examine the decline of R&D productivity in pharmaceuticals in the past two decades and its determinants. We show that this decline is associated with an increasing concentration of R&D investments in areas in which the risk of failure is high, which correspond to unmet therapeutic needs and unexploited biological mechanisms. We also investigate the potential variations in productivity with regard to the regional location of companies and find that although companies based in the United States and Europe differ in the composition of their R&D portfolios, there is no evidence of any productivity gap
The sustainability of European health care systems: beyond income and aging
No full textDuring the last 30 years, health care expenditure (HCE) has been growing much more rapidly than GDP in OECD countries. In this paper, we review the determinants of HCE dynamics in Europe, taking into account the role of income, aging population, technological progress, female labor participation and public budgetary variables.
We show that HCE is a multifaceted phenomenon where
demographic, social, economic, technological and institutional factors all play an important role. The comparison of total, public and private HCE reveals an imbalance of European welfare toward the care of the elderly. European Governments should increasingly rely on pluralistic systems to balance sustainability and access and equilibrate the distribution of resources across the functions of the public welfare system
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