BIG data – BIG gains? Understanding the link between big data analytics and innovation

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the relationship between firms' use of big data analytics and their innovative performance in terms of product innovations. Since big data technologies provide new data information practices, they create novel decision-making possibilities, which are widely believed to support firms' innovation process. Applying German firm-level data within a knowledge production function framework we find suggestive evidence that big data analytics is a relevant determinant for the likelihood of a firm becoming a product innovator as well as for the market success of product innovations. These results hold for the manufacturing as well as for the service sector but are contingent on firms' investment in IT-specific skills. Overall, the results support the view that big data analytics have the potential to enable innovation.     

An N-dimensional generalization of the Amiti–Weinstein estimator

Amiti and Weinstein proposed an estimation framework to disentangle credit demand and supply shocks using matched bank-firm loan data. Here, we show that their estimator can be generalized to capture shocks arising in an arbitrary number of dimensions. Our algorithm permits empirical researchers to analyse multi-dimensional data sets using the Amiti–Weinstein framework. This may be beneficial both for studies on micro-level outcomes as well as for the literature on assessing the macroeconomic impact of idiosyncratic shocks. In an empirical application to a firm-product-country export data set, we highlight the usefulness of the generalized Amiti–Weinstein estimator, and we demonstrate the importance of considering additional dimensions when gauging the effect of granular shocks on aggregate fluctuations.     

A Tale of Two Sectors: Why is Misallocation Higher in Services than in Manufacturing?

Recent empirical studies document that the level of resource misallocation in the service sector is significantly higher than in the manufacturing sector. We quantify the importance of this difference and study its sources. Conservative estimates for Portugal in 2008 show that closing this gap, by reducing misallocation in the service sector to manufacturing levels, would boost aggregate gross output by around 12 percent and aggregate value added by around 31 percent. Differences in the effect and size of productivity shocks explain most of the gap in misallocation between manufacturing and services, while the remainder is explained by differences in firm productivity and age distributions. We interpret these results as stemming mainly from higher output-price rigidity, higher labor adjustment costs and higher informality in the service sector.     

The New Keynesian Phillips curve and the role of expectations: Evidence from the CESifo World Economic Survey

We provide evidence on the fit of the hybrid New Keynesian Phillips curve for selected Euro zone countries, the US and the UK. Instead of imposing rational expectations and estimating the Phillips curve by the Generalized Method of Moments, we use direct measures of inflation expectations from the CESifo World Economic Survey. Our main findings are as follows: (i) The use of survey data gives empirical results, which are more reliable than those obtained from the GMM approach. (ii) The purely forward-looking Phillips curve can be rejected in favor of the hybrid New Keynesian Phillips curve. (iii) The estimated coefficients on past inflation are higher when using survey expectations than when using the rational expectations GMM approach. (iv) It remains unclear whether real unit labor costs or a measure of the output gap should be used as a proxy for real marginal costs. (v) Theory-based restrictions lead to an improvement of the empirical results.     

城市特大活动管理模式转移

目前．特大活动的管理模式正在发生转移现象．基于城市品牌的特大活动管理模式正在不断成熟。     

From less promising to green? Technological opportunities and their role in (green) ICT innovation

This article aims to shed light on the role of technological opportunities for green innovation by studying the case of Green ICT innovation. We test whether firms active in low-opportunity technological areas are less likely to be innovative and whether they are more likely to change their direction of technical change. To do so, we construct a firm-level panel data set for the years 1992–2009 combining patent data from the European Patent Office with firm-level data from the German Innovation Panel (Mannheim Innovation Panel). The results are based on dynamic count data estimation models applying General Methods of Moments estimators. Our results support our hypotheses: firms active in low-opportunity technological areas are less innovative but are more likely to switch from pure ICT innovation to Green ICT innovation.     

Distant but Close in Sight: Firm-level Evidence on French–German Productivity Gaps in Manufacturing

We study productivity-level distributions of manufacturing firms in France and Germany, and how these distributions evolved across the Great Recession. We show the presence of a systematic productivity advantage of German firms over French ones in the decade 2003–2013, but the gap has narrowed down after the Great Recession. Convergence is explained by the better growth performance of French firms in the post-recession period, especially of those located in the top percentiles of the productivity distribution. We also highlight the role of sectoral growth, firm size, and export intensity in explaining the above convergence. In contrast, the contribution of allocative efficiency was small.     

Does connectedness improve SMEs’ access to formal finance? Evidence from post-communist economies

Evidence suggests that a disproportionately greater share of formal finance is channelled to large enterprises in emerging economies, limiting the flow of appropriately-financed small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Market and information imperfections are conventionally seen as major causes of this misallocation. However, the role of political factors in affecting the distribution of formal finance has become more widely acknowledged in recent times. Our analyses of SMEs in post-communist economies also show that measures of political connectedness improve the chances of receiving bank credit and that the benefits of these links are stronger for well-established and larger SMEs.     

Macroeconomic Consequences of the Adoption of the Euro: The Case of Slovenia

On 1 January 2007, Slovenia adopted the euro as the first of the ten new EU member states. By means of simulations with SLOPOL6, a macroeconometric model of the Slovene economy, this paper examines the macroeconomic consequences that can be expected from this event. It is shown that after a short period of minor turbulences related to the introduction of the euro, the adoption of the euro brings about higher real GDP growth, a higher GDP level, more employment, lower inflation, a lower price level and improved public finances in the medium run. On the other hand, the current account deteriorates. Financial support from the Province of Carinthia, Klagenfurt University and the Jubilaeumsfonds of the Austrian National Bank (project no. 12166) is gratefully acknowledged. The opinions presented need not be those of the Austrian National Bank.     

Macroeconomic effects of Slovenia’s integration in the Euro Area

On 1 January 2007, Slovenia entered the Euro Area as the first of the ten new EU member states. By means of simulations with SLOPOL6, a macroeconometric model of the Slovene economy, this paper examines which macroeconomic effects can be expected from this event. It is shown that Euro Area accession brings about temporarily higher real GDP growth, a permanently higher GDP level, more employment, temporarily lower inflation and a permanently lower price level. On the other hand, both public finances and the current account deteriorate.