HOW DO SPATIAL SPILLOVERS DIFFUSE IN SCIENCE–INDUSTRY INTERACTIONS? THE CASE OF FRENCH BIOTECH SECTOR

The objective of this article is to study the interactions that exist between public research and private research in the French biotechnology sector. These interactions are observable at a double level. On the one hand, public research can influence private research, and conversely. Researchers of these two spheres develop important relations of cooperation. We then seek to identify these mutual influences and to measure their spatial dimension. Using asymptotic least squares method, we show that spillovers can diffuse through cooperation in upstream and downstream phases of the innovation process. On the other hand, spillovers resulting from public or private research, when measured by an external stock of knowledge, would be located, in so far as they exist.     

IN QUEST OF A SELF - SUFFICIENT CITY WITH HARMONY BETWEEN INDUSTRY, CULTURE,AND NATURE

OmiyacityislocatedinthesoutheastpoofSaitamaPrefecture.AaitamaadjoinstothenorthedgeofTokyoMetropo-tis.TheprefecturehasasisterProvince-PrefectureagreementwithShanxiProvince.Omiyaispopulatedbyover430,000citizens,andlastyearcelebratedthe55thanniversaryofitsfoundation.Weareveryproudtosaythatourcityisdevelopingasacenterofeconomy,commerceandindustryinSaitama.Thehistoryofourcity'sdevelopmenthasalwaysbeenwiththecitizens.HikawaShrine,themostprestigiousshrineintheMusashiDistrict(formeradministrativ…     

DISAGGREGATING FIRMS IN ANALYSING THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF THE UNIVERSITY–INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIP: BASED ON AN ANALYTICAL AND EMPIRICAL STUDY FROM SCOTLAND

It has been acknowledged that universities are key institutions in national and regional systems of innovation. This recognition has led to a rich stream of literature analysing the university–industry relationship. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to disaggregating the ‘industry’ side of this relationship and examining the costs and benefits to the disaggregated parties involved. In the present article, which draws on an analytical and empirical study from Scotland, it is suggested that it makes sense to distinguish between three kinds of firms in analysing the university–industry relationship: large national and international R&D-intensive firms, university spin-out firms, and established small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have had little interaction with universities. The different costs and benefits facing these firms in their interactions with universities are analysed. It is concluded that the established SMEs confront relatively high costs in relating to universities. Finally, the policy implications are explored.     

FIRST IN VILLAGE OR SECOND IN ROME?*

Though individuals prefer high‐quality peers, there are advantages to being high up in the pecking order within a group. In this environment, sorting of agents yields an overlapping interval structure in the type space. Segregation and mixing coexist in a stable equilibrium. With transfers, this equilibrium corresponds to a competitive equilibrium where agents bid for relative positions and entails less segregation than the efficient allocation. More egalitarianism within organizations induces greater segregation across organizations, but can improve the allocation efficiency. Since competition is most intense for intermediate talent, effective personnel policies differ systematically between high‐quality and low‐quality organizations.     

FORD IN CHINA

FordMotorCompany'sinterestinChinaspansmorethan80years.Itbeganin1913-just10yearsaftertheformationofFordMotorCompany-whenFordsoldsome250Model-T'sintheDutchEastIndies,Siam,Indo-ChinaandChina.In1928,asalesandservicebranchwasorganizedinShanghaiandremainedfunctionaluntilthebeginningofWorldWarⅡ.Bytheendof1929,tractorsbuiltattheFordplantinCork,Ireland,werealsoshippedandsoldinChina.Intheearly1930s,HenryFordbeganappraisingthemarketinChinaandprospectingsitestoestablishanassemblyormanufacturin…     

最IN极客装

还记得《终结者》里面斯瓦辛格的视点画面吗? 试想,当你透过眼睛看到的是已经分析出各种数据的画面,这得多酷.事实上,游戏主机领域的巨头一直很想将这一概念运用到游戏中,但多年没有形成让人接受的产品.而这一概念沉寂多年过后,2012年,Google推出的Glass重新掀起了一股科技浪潮.这款产品告诉大家,最酷的不是名牌服饰,最酷的是拥有一款具有极客范儿的时尚智能产品.如今,这些向可穿戴跨越的智能产品已然被视为是一种全新的革命浪潮,由于其与人体的贴近性,将为我们的生活带来极大的便利.     

URBAN PLANNING IN SHEFFIELD

WhatliesattheheartoftheunderlyingaimsofSheffield'sdevelopmentplanisre-generation.Thismeansbringingnewlifetothecity,especiallytotherun-downareasofSheffield.Regenerationgiyesthecityapositiveandprogressiveimageandbalancestliefour7aimsofthe'plan.Byfocusinginvestmentintoareasandcommunitieswhichhavelostoutinthepast,theplanwillcontributetoamorecaringenvironmentandpr-omotingabetterenvironment,amorethrivingcityandamoreaccessibleenvironment.RegenerationmeansthattheaimofamorethrivingcityisachieYedwhere…     

URBAN PLANNING IN SHEFFIELD

Sheffie1disEngland'sfourth1argestcity.It'slocatedinthenorthofEnglalldatthesouthernendofthePennineshil1range.FromthePenninesoutontotheplainsofYorkshire,f1owtheRiversDoll,SheafandPorter.Traditiona1ly,industryhasbeenlocatedintlieseriveryal1eybottornswitlihousingsitesonhillsidesandthehil1topsinbetweentheYalleys.Sheffieldofcourse,isfamousforitssteelindustry,butsincetheearly198O'sthisindustryhascontractedsubstanti-allyintermsofemp1oyment.Thishasleftanumberofproblemsinthecity,particu1-arlyconcen…     

DO LABOUR SOCIETIES PERFORM DIFFERENTLY TO COOPERATIVES? EVIDENCE FROM THE SPANISH BUILDING INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT: Labour Societies and Cooperatives are both Social Economy enterprises, but with noticeable differences, some of which are imposed by legislation in Spain. The aim of this paper is to study whether such differences affect their management capacity and, in particular, efficiency. In doing so, Data Envelopment Analysis techniques and the metafrontier approach proposed by O’Donnell et al. (2008) are used on a sample of Spanish Labour Societies and Cooperatives belonging to the building industry. Scores of technical efficiency and metafrontier ratios are computed at firm level and, as a novel contribution to existing literature in this field of research, at input‐specific level. The main finding shows that Cooperatives enjoy some technological advantages over Labour Societies, particularly in regard to the management of labour, fixed assets and current assets.     

DOES SIZE MATTER? THE IMPACT OF CHANGES IN HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE ON INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN GERMANY

Income inequality in Germany has been continually increasing during the past 20 years. One cause of this development, among others, could be structural shifts in household formation due to long‐term societal trends. These affect per capita incomes, which has repercussions for the income distribution even if wages remain constant. The aim of this paper is to quantify the proportion of changing household structures in the increase in inequality. We find that the growth of the income gap in Germany (for both East and West from 1991 to 2007) is indeed strongly related to changes in household structure and employment behavior, and a large part of this increase is compensated by the welfare state.     

FEAR OF FLOATING IN EAST ASIA?

Abstract.  We examine the de facto exchange rate arrangements in eight East Asian countries during the post-Asian crisis period. The empirical results suggest that three countries adopted a hard peg or a peg with capital account restrictions, whereas five countries moved toward a more flexible exchange rate arrangement in the post-crisis period. Three of these five countries (Korea, Indonesia and Thailand) achieved a level of exchange rate flexibility close to the level accomplished in a free floater such as Australia. These results suggest that 'fear of floating' in East Asia is not prevalent in the post-crisis period, supporting the bipolar view of the optimal exchange rate regime.     

ARE COOPERATIVES MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN INVESTOR‐OWNED FIRMS? CROSS‐INDUSTRY EVIDENCE FROM PORTUGAL

We analyse empirically whether cooperatives and investor‐owned firms differ in terms of productive efficiency. Using rich Portuguese panel data covering a wide range of industries, we apply two different empirical approaches to estimate potential differences in productive efficiency. The results from our benchmark random‐effects model show that cooperatives are significantly less productive, on average, than investor‐owned firms, both at the aggregate level and for most of the industries considered. However, the results derived from a System‐GMM approach, which is our preferred empirical strategy, are much less conclusive, and we cannot conclude that cooperatives are generally less efficient that investor‐owned firms. With either approach, though, we find no evidence that cooperatives are more productive than investor‐owned firms in any industry.     

COMPETITION OR COOPERATION IN URBAN SERVICE DELIVERY?

ABSTRACT: Inter‐municipal cooperation is now as common among US local governments as for profit privatization. This article uses data from a national survey in 2007 to explore the benefits of cooperation – economies of scale, service coordination across the metropolitan region and greater community control. While privatization reforms have focused on harnessing the benefits of a competitive market, cooperation may be the new frontier where economies of scale and efficiency gains can be achieved with governments working together in a new form of collaborative service delivery.     

IS THERE BIAS IN COMPUTING HOUSEHOLD EQUIVALENCE SCALES?

Household equivalence scales are often used to help perform welfare comparisons across households with different demographic composition. Abstracting from the problems of value judgments and ethical standards, the use of equivalence scales to perform welfare comparisons still faces several measurement problems, namely the identification problem and the endogeneity problem. This paper introduces and estimates an unconditional demand system that simultaneously addresses these two problems. By explicitly considering the demand for leisure, and the fact the household can choose some of its demographic characteristics, we deal with the endogeneity problem and obtain consistent estimates. We identify unconditional equivalence scales by estimating the demand for endogenous demographic variables along with the demand for leisure and consumer goods. More general equivalence scales allowing for better comparability are estimated and used for welfare comparisons.     

JYVSKYL-A CENTRE OF EXPERTISE IN FINLAND

MayorofJyvaskylaSituatedintheheartofFinland,theJyvdskylaregionisamoderncentreofindustryandlearningwithapopulationofcloseto130000.Theregionenjoyslivelyinternationalcontactsinawiderangeoffields.Servedbyanextensivenetworkofcommunications,theareahasestablisheditselfasanationalhubofhightochnologyandbusiness.Thebeautiful,versatileanduntouchednaturesurroundingthecityofJyvds-kyla,offersalltheelementsoftheFinnishlandscapewithinasmallarea.JyvaskylaisthecapitaloftheProyinceofCentra1Finland.Onefifthof…     

DOES INPUT QUALITY DRIVE MEASURED DIFFERENCES IN FIRM PRODUCTIVITY?*

One explanation for productivity dispersion is that the quality of inputs differs across firms. We add labor market history variables such as experience and firm and industry tenure, as well as general human capital measures such as schooling and sex. Adding these variables decreases the ratio of the 90th to 10th productivity quantiles from 3.27 to 2.68 across eight Danish manufacturing and service industries. We also use the wage bill and worker fixed effects. We find that the wage bill explains as much dispersion as human capital measures.     

THE AEGON GROUP A LEADER IN THE WORLD'S INSURANCE MARKETS

Withitsmetsdatinghackhalfwaythelastcentury,theAEGONGrouphasbuiltitselfawealthofexperienceandknow-howintheinsuranceindustry.InitiallyaDutchcompany,theGroupwasformedin1983andhasgraduallyexpandeditsoperationsacrossmanyborders.Thisongoingprocessofinternationalization,mainlyasaresultofwell-aimedac-quisitions,hasgUidedusintoourcurrentposition:aleaderandinnovatorintheworld'sinsurancemarkets.AEGONistheeighthlargestinsurerintheworldintermsofassetsandthesixthintermsofmarketcapitalization.Atyearend…     

RETAKING IN HIGH STAKES EXAMS: IS LESS MORE?

Placement, both in university and in the civil service, according to performance in competitive exams is the norm in much of the world. Repeat taking of such exams is common despite the private and social costs it imposes. We develop and estimate a structural model of exam retaking using data from Turkey's university placement exam. Limiting retaking results in all agents gaining ex ante and most gaining ex post. This result comes from a general equilibrium effect: Retakers crowd the market and impose negative spillovers on others by raising acceptance cutoffs.     

EXXON CORPORATION THE MOST PROFITABLE OIL COMPANY IN THE WORLD

Editor’sNotes：SincetheColumn《ForumforForeignMayor》wasopenedIn1991，wehavePublishedmorethan40articleswrittenbyforeignMayorsfrommorethan30countries．ThecolumnwasInterestedbyreadersandwritersoftheJournal，especiallybyChineseMayors．TheJournalhassponsored3DlllberatingConcerencesonInterna－tionalCityManagement，1993inFrance，1994InAustralia，1995inNewZealand．DuringthgconferenCes，wegotacqualntgdsomeenter。prizers，theyhopehaveachancetoexchangewithChineseenter·prizers．SotheJournald…