1,721,309 research outputs found
Spatial heterogeneity, industry heterogeneity, and entrepreneurship
No full textThe prevalence of entrepreneurship varies not only across regions but also among industries. Using a unique panel dataset of 60 two-digit industries across 64 provinces from 2000 to 2010 in Vietnam, we investigate the importance of spatial and sectoral heterogeneity in an analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurship and empirically explore the interaction effect of geographic conditions and industry dynamism. Overall, our results confirm the significance of industry structural variables and their joint effect with geographic conditions in fostering new firm formation. Particularly, (i) growth-driven entries are generally higher in provinces that offer higher salaries; (ii) technology-intensive industries within regions that have strong knowledge spillover effects are appealing to new entries. Others noteworthy findings include: (i) ‘necessity entrepreneurship’ is prevalent in Vietnam, but limited to extractive and service industries that are typically labor intensive; (ii) firms tend to concentrate more in agglomerated locations. This effect, however, evaporates for high-tech industries; and (iii) industry profitability and niche dynamism all play a crucial role in stimulating new start-ups. We apply the system generalized method of moments to obtain empirical evidence in the study
Evidence-based policymaking and the crisis of Western Democracies
No full textThe paper examines the perceived crisis in Western liberal democracies, arguing
that the true causes extend beyond the commonly cited symptoms of political party
representation decline, partisan hostility, and the rise of charismatic leaders. It sug-
gests that the roots lie in a deep-seated belief in traditional economic solutions such
as promoting international trade, reducing state intervention, and encouraging com-
petition. This belief unites diverse ideological movements and has led to a policy
environment where evidence-based policymaking prioritizes practical effectiveness
over political and ethical considerations, resulting in the marginalization of alterna-
tive viewpoints and the narrowing of democratic discourse. The dominance of eco-
nomic liberalism and ordo-liberalism has shaped policy evaluation methodologies,
favoring short-term effectiveness and quantitative measures while often neglecting
broader impacts like income distribution. Additionally, the increasing use of AI in
legislative processes may further entrench this “what works” paradigm, rendering
traditional policy development obsolete. The paper concludes by emphasizing the
importance of embracing diverse perspectives and fostering debate to ensure the
vitality of liberal democracy
Patterns regionali di innovazione tecnologica in Italia: R&S, brevetti sull'estero, imprese innovative
No full textArtificial Intelligence and robots: a threat or an opportunity for SMEs and entrepreneurship?
No full textThis chapter goes beyond the twofold nature of AI technologies as a mere juxtaposition of opposing views. The idea is that the adopting firms, in particular
new entrepreneurial ventures and SMEs, can limit the negative consequences
of the labor-saving impact of AI technologies by focusing on the creation of entirely new products and services. The impacts on the labor market and on SMEs and entrepreneurship are therefore inherently intertwined. Analyzing them together helps solve the question of the expected effects caused by the inevitable diffusion of these new and revolutionary technologies
Intellectual property rights, distance to the frontier, and R&D: evidence from microdata
No full textUsing firm-level data for 28 transition countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia over the 2002-2009 period, this paper analyzes whether differences in the functioning of intellectual property rights (IPRs) systems – measured along various dimensions, including de facto enforcement and de jure patent and copyright protection – affect a firm’s propensity to engage in R&D activities. We estimate the likelihood of engaging in R&D as a function of a firm’s distance from the relevant technological frontier and of the country’s IPRs system. In line with previous literature, we find that i) firms closer to the technological frontier are more likely to engage in formal R&D activities and ii) stronger IPRs systems, because they protect returns from R&D activities from imitation, are more effective in promoting investment in R&D. Moreover, when the strength of an IPRs system interacts with the distance to the technological frontier, its effect is no longer significant, ceteris paribus. This is the most striking result of our study. When we examine the semi-elasticity of the strength of IPRs with respect to a firm’s distance from the technological frontier, a weak yet positive impact on the firm’s likelihood to engage in R&D is observed for very inefficient ones, whereas this becomes negative and weakly significant when firms are on the technological frontier
Young innovative companies: Are they high performers in transition economies? Evidence for Vietnam
Full text linkWe study the economic value of both embodied technological change and Research and Development (R&D) investment as proxies for the inputs of innovative activities conducted by Vietnamese firms. Our main focus is on the profitability of young innovative companies (YICs), private innovative companies (PICs), and small and young companies (SYCs). In particular, we test whether YICs could prove successful in fostering economic development through their technological change activities. Results show that (a) although YICs are more R&D intensive and innovative than PICs and SYCs, in general they do not produce equivalent performance; however those specific YICs focusing on technological change potentially outperform their counterparts, and (b) PICs are more capable than the other types of firms in translating their innovative effort to higher profitability
Successful Transition to a Market Economy: An Interpretation From Organizational Ecology Theory and Institutional Theory
Full text linkThis paper investigates the rationales for the successful economic transition in a transition country through the lens of organizational ecology theory and institutional theory. Initially, the new private sector emerges and survives because of “legitimacy spillovers” from the legitimized transitional mixed sector and some market-oriented identity overlap. Over time, as the private sector builds its own legitimacy, it competes with the state and the mixed sector and challenges their existence. Finally, the Schumpeterian “creative destruction” process replaces the old out-of-date sectors with the new dominant sector. Consistent with organizational ecology theory, the evolution and dynamics of the three economic sectors take place through their interactions, which determine the emergence, prominence, decline and exit of firm populations in each sector. Depending on whether a centrally planned or market-oriented political legacy plays the dominant role in the regional environment where the transition takes place, local institutions play a moderating role in stimulating or hindering this evolution process. Empirically, we test this mechanism using census data for firms operating in Vietnam between 2000 and 2013, applying Blundell and Bond’s generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique and the piecewise exponential hazard model to study the interaction effects of economic sectors in terms of profitability and survival
Does Globalization Reduce Poverty? Some Empirical Evidence for the Developing Countries
No full textIn this chapter we address a key issue in the current debate on economic development: the effect of globalization on poverty. We review the empirical evidence on the relationship between globalization (broadly defined) and within-country poverty in the Developing Countries (DCs). To measure globalization we use, among others, standard indices of trade openness, financial openness and privatization. To measure poverty we use both indices of relative and absolute poverty averaged over five and ten years. The use of relative poverty indices enables inquiry into a different dimension of poverty and provides additional information with respect to previous research. Both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis are used to sketch a few stylized facts in a very complex framework of relationships
Diversification strategies and firm performance in Vietnam
Full text linkThis paper is based upon the assumption that a firm's profitability is determined by its degree of diversification which is, in turn, strongly related to the antecedent decision to carry out diversification activities. This calls for an empirical approach that permits the joint analysis of the three interrelated and consecutive stages of the overall diversification process: diversification decision, degree of diversification and outcome of diversification. We apply parametric and semi-parametric approaches to control for sample selection and the endogeneity of the diversification decision in both static and dynamic models. For the analysis, we use the census dataset on the whole firm population in Vietnam, as a representative of transition countries. After controlling for industry fixed-effects, the empirical evidence from the firm-level data shows that diversification has a curvilinear effect on profitability: it improves firms’ profit up to a point, after which a further increase in diversification is associated with declining performance. This implies that firms should consider optimal levels of product diversification when they expand their product offerings beyond their core business. Other noteworthy findings include the following: (i) the factors that stimulate firms to diversify do not necessarily encourage them to extend their diversification strategy; (ii) firms that are endowed with highly technological resources and innovation investment are likely to successfully exploit diversification as an engine of growth; and (iii) while industry performance does not have a strong influence on the profitability of firms, it impacts their diversification decision as well as the degree of diversificatio
- …
