Are the BRIC countries overtaking intermediate countries in the race for international R&D? The case of Spain

The emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as international locations for foreign direct investment in R&D is a sign that multinationals are relocating their technological activities to new territories. This trend may weaken the supremacy of the developed countries until now considered leaders in innovation, and may mean the loss of the competitive advantages enjoyed by the countries considered intermediate innovators. This paper examines the situation of Spain as a typical intermediate economy and compares it to its main competitors among the BRICs. Based on eight case studies of subsidiaries with R&D centres in Spain, we conclude that the policies adopted by certain emerging economies to develop their national innovation systems are proving effective and that these countries now pose a threat to intermediate economies. However, the BRICs still lag behind in terms of the security of their institutional framework; this situation leaves intermediate countries in an advantageous position.     

Are the kinship networks a resource or a curse for small firms in post-communist countries? The case of Albania

Cross-sectional data are compiled from the 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2012 World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study databases for Albania. Based on responses from 1169 firms, the entrepreneurs’ kinship networks are found to influence firm activity in a positive and negative way. The positive contribution occurs through employment, be it formal or informal. The persisting impact of the kinship networks fades away, and business and friendship networks have gained importance in recent years.     

Catch-up strategy of latecomer firms in Asia: a case study of innovation ambidexterity in PC industry

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, more and more East Asian firms have moved beyond imitation and are delivering innovative products and services to the market. This study examines (a) how a latecomer firm in East Asia transformed its business model in pursuit of manufacturing its own brand and (b) how it managed its exploration and exploitation of the market and technology in response to growth and competition. Given the lack of research on firms transitioning from contract manufacturing (CM) to own-brand manufacturing (OBM), this study offers fresh insights into how Acer, a leading Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer (OEM), has pursued new ways of creating value using an innovation ambidexterity strategy to maximise its customer value and boost performance.

Acer is chosen for this case study because of its significance and impact in the global PC industry. Data were collected through interviews and secondary data analysis. Our findings show that innovation ambidexterity is a deliberate transition process, taking firms years to reshape their business models. Our findings also present a viable solution to sustainable competitive advantage and keys to firms’ renewal in face of environmental change. This study contributes to the innovation management literature, and the use of the innovation ambidexterity framework examines how firms explore new ways of creating and capturing value and face challenges.     

On a fallacy in the Kaldor–Hicks efficiency–equity analysis

This paper shows that implicit assumptions about the numeraire good in the Kaldor–Hicks efficiency–equity analysis involve a “same-yardstick” fallacy (a fallacy pointed out by Paul Samuelson in another context). These results have negative implications for cost-benefit analysis, the wealth-maximization approach to law and economics, and other parts of applied welfare economics—as well as for the whole vision of economics based on the “production and distribution of social wealth”.     

The phenomenon of equifinality in innovative development of the monetary private ownership economy —An axiomatic set-up

The phenomenon of the equifinality can be understood as a possibility to achieve a given final state in many potential ways, regardless of the initial state. The study of this phenomenon is particularly relevant in today's world, where one of the main problems is the transformation of post-communist countries' economies so that they reach the states close to the economic systems of developed countries. This transformation takes place in the process of economic development stimulated by innovation, with the active role of the banking sphere.Thus, the main purpose of this study is to define the concept of equifinality achieved in a finite time, in an innovative development of the economic system controlled by the banks and the analysis of its properties. For this purpose the possible trajectories of development are studied here in a space of innovative extensions of private ownership economy with money, for which the target state is an innovative extension of a given model.This analysis uses the apparatus of an Arrow–Debreu general equilibrium theory and the theory of dynamical systems. Simultaneously, the work presented is a development of earlier studies in modeling of the Schumpeter's vision of the economic development (Ciałowicz and Malawski, 2007, 2011).     

On the Neutrality of Profit Taxation in a Mixed Oligopoly

This paper investigates the neutrality of profit taxation in a mixed oligopoly where one (partially) public firm competes with private firms. We find that the neutrality of a profit tax is robust under a general cost and a general demand function as long as the degree of privatization is endogenously determined. This result is also true when product heterogeneity is considered under both Cournot and Bertrand competition. By contrast, if the degree of privatization is exogenously given, the profit tax neutrality holds only in the cases where the public firm is fully privatized or fully state-owned; otherwise, the neutrality breaks down.     

Do fiscal decentralization and income inequality affect the size of the shadow economy? A panel data analysis for OECD countries

In this article, we study fiscal decentralization and inequality as driving forces of the shadow economy in advanced economies. Our empirical analysis suggests that a reduction in income inequality will contain the shadow economy, whereas expenditure and tax decentralization do not significantly impact it. As decentralization is generally believed to increase government efficiency, this result is indicative of already highly efficient public administrations. Our results further indicate that redistributive policies positively affect the size of the shadow economy, whereas the tax burden does not have any discernible effect on the shadow economy in our sample.     

Do the best go west? An analysis of the self-selection of employed East-West migrants in Germany

Since the inequality of earnings in East Germany has approached West German levels in the late 1990s, the standard Roy model predicts that a positive selection bias of East-West migrants should disappear. Using a switching regression model and data from the IAB-employment sample, we find however that employed East-West migrants remain positively self-selected with respect to unobserved abilities. This result is consistent with the predictions of our extended Roy model which considers moving costs that are negatively correlated with labour market abilities of individuals. Moreover, we find that wage differentials as well as differences in employment opportunities are the central forces which drive East-West migration after unification.

Urbanization and urban-rural inequality in china: a new perspective from the government��s development strategy

This paper offers a novel explanation for the lower urbanization rate and great urban-rural inequality in China. Our study reveals that, heavy-industry-oriented development strategy will result in lower urbanization rate and higher urban-rural inequality. The greater the degree of heavy-industry-oriented development strategy is, the lower the urbanization rate is, and the higher the urban-rural inequality is. From a dynamic perspective, heavy-industry-oriented development strategy reduces the capital accumulation rate, which results in a slower progress of urbanization and a highly persistent urban-rural inequality. The higher the degree of heavy-industry-oriented development strategy, the slower the progress of urbanization, and the longer the urban-rural inequality will last. This mechanism can potentially explain the lower urbanization rate and higher urban-rural inequality in China under a unified framework.     

On the monetary nature of the interest rate in a Keynes–Schumpeter perspective

Abstract

Keynes, in the General Theory, explains the monetary nature of the interest rate by means of the liquidity preference theory. The objective of this article is twofold. The first objective is to point out the limits of the liquidity preference theory. The fundamental limitation of this theory is that it does not allow to realize the intent declared by Keynes in 1933 to elaborate a monetary theory of production The second objective is to present a more solid theory of the monetary nature of the interest rate. It will be shown that an essential element of this explanation is Schumpeter’s analysis of the role of bank money in a capitalist economy. In fact, this analysis represents a fundamental tool to explain the characteristics that, according to Keynes, distinguish a monetary economy from a real-exchange economy     

Do innovative firms rely on big secrets? An analysis of IP protection strategies with the CIS 4 survey

Innovative companies have a variety of instruments at their disposal to protect themselves from imitators, and this paper investigates the determinants of the protection choices with a focus on highly innovative respondents. While the patent system's aim is that firms apply to patent their innovations, especially the most important ones, theoretical results in the existing literature suggest that large innovations will rather be protected by secrecy because of the legal uncertainty surrounding intellectual property rights. In line with the predictions of their model, our probit analysis conducted using data from the Community Innovation Survey 4 shows that, in the intermediate goods industry, small innovations are patented while secrecy is used to protect large ones. For very innovative small firms, the share of innovative sales in total sales has a negative effect on patent application. These findings support the view that many innovative firms regard patent filing as no more secure than secrecy, which therefore limits the diffusion of knowledge.     

Saving,investment and capital mobility in EU member countries: a panel data analysis of the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we reexamine the long-standing and puzzling correlation between national saving and investment in 14 European Union (EU) countries. We employ a panel data set for the period 1970–2015 and we apply recently developed maximum likelihood panel cointegration methodologies. We find that there exists a long-run relationship between savings and investment for this panel of EU member countries, with the savings retention coefficient being low in magnitude but statistically different than zero. Therefore, we argue that there is weak evidence in favour of the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle and that the long-run international solvency condition is maintained in most of these countries. This evidence implies a moderate degree of capital mobility which is consistent with the macroeconomic experience of these countries during the period under investigation.     

On the level of persistence in government size: time–series evidence and implications for the US

For most developed countries, the study of the long–term trend of government size has become a major issue. This study employs advanced time–series techniques to investigate the long–run properties of the government size series for the US. By applying the persistence measures developed by Campbell and Mankiw (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 102, 857–80, 1987) and Cochrane (Journal of Political Economy, 96, 893–920, 1988), this study finds big long–term persistence in government size at all levels of the US government. The finding, indeed, explains the fact that the US has gradually taken steps to control the size of government in the 1990s.     

An econometric analysis of willingness-to-pay for sustainable development: A case study of the Vol?ji Potok landscape area

When the market for a certain good is competitive enough, economic activities can be studied by the market pricing mechanism. Because this is usually not feasible in case of environmental goods with embodied natural and cultural heritage, particular methods for economic valuation of such goods have to be applied. The present article represents the economic valuation of the Landscape Development and Protection Area of Vol?ji Potok, which is an important Slovenian cultural landscape area with internationally recognized qualities. For this purpose we combined classical contingent valuation with a closed-version of discrete choice method, where the protest responses have been removed. By using econometric analysis we obtained the value of willingness-to-pay and established its determinants. We also made an attempt to control for different biases that arise in such analyses. At last, we used the adjusted average individual value of willingness-to-pay to calculate the aggregate willingness-to-pay. The present analysis represents one of the very few applications of the method to Central and Eastern European countries.     

On sustainable development of agriculture in oasis： a case study of Hexi Corridor, Gansu, China

Hexi Corridor is one of the most potential areas in the China＇s Western Development in 21^st century.However,the problems - the sustainable development of oasis agriculture,the ecosystem of the oasis edge,the landscape structure,the population density in oasis,water resources and land resources in oasis are deteriorating and have restricted the sustainable development of society and economy in this area.This paper summarizes the problems at present,and puts forward the concept of protecting and constructing the oasis environment and sustainable development for the sustainable development of the oasis agriculture in the Hexi Corridor.     

Research on the sustainable development of ecotourism in protected areas： a review

Due to the unique function of protected areas in species and nature resources conservation, sustainability has become the primary consideration in the development of ecotourism in protected areas. This paper focuses on this issue, and reviews the current literatures in this field, tries to give a comprehensive review which can also be organized in logical sense, classifies three major paradigms about the current research： research on the development of ecotourism in protected areas, research on the external indicators which affect the sustainability of ecotourism in protected areas, researches on the assessment of sustainability of ecotourism in protected areas, and finally points out that the further study in this field must be carried out by inter-disciplines, such as cultural economics and ecological economics.     

The unequal distribution of unequal pay – An empirical analysis of the gender wage gap in Switzerland

In this paper we analyze the distribution of the gender wage gap. Using microdata for Switzerland we estimate conditional wage distribution functions and find that the total wage gap and its discrimination component are not constant over the range of wages. At low wages an overproportional part of the wage gap is due to discrimination. In a further analysis of specific individuals we examine the wage gap at different quantiles and propose a new measure to assess equal earnings opportunities. These additional results reveal that it is primarily low education that causes the large discrimination component at low wages. First version received: April 1999/Final version accepted: July 2000     

Quantitative analysis on the contribution of industrial structure change to sustainable development： a case study of Fujian Province

Development and sustainability are the core connotation of sustainable development. Sustainability of economic development and the provision capability of resources and environment are two aspects of sustainable development. The former ones are the foundation of the latter ones＇. Industrial structure has a close relationship with sustainable development. The optimization of industrial structure is the important base for the sustainable development of modern economy and also the important ways of the sustainable utilization of resources and environment; The intensive growth effect of industrial structure change has the meaning of sustainable development. This paper reviews and explains the theory on the contribution of indus＇trial structure change to sustainable development, builds the calculation model through introducing the coefficient of industrial structure change, makes an empirical study on the contribution of industrial structure change to sustainable development in Fujian, and puts forward ways and policies of optimizing industrial structure both among industries and inside the industry in the process of industrial structure change.     

Lending technologies,banking relationships,and firms’ access to credit in Italy: the role of firm size

This paper analyses the role of lending technologies and banking relationships on firms’ credit access in Italy. Using EFIGE firm-level data, we show that the depth and strength of firm–bank relationships have heterogeneous effects on credit demand and rationing probabilities depending on the size of the borrower. Multiple banking relationships alleviate financial constraints for small firms, while borrowing from a large number of lenders hinders access to credit for large companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises with a higher share of debt with the main bank have a lower probability of being credit denied, as debt concentration contributes to overcome the opacity problems typical of the SMEs. Long-lasting relationships, by reducing information asymmetries, significantly improve access to credit for small and large firms. Conversely, we find that medium-sized enterprises are more exposed to financing constraints as relationship duration increases, due to possible lock-in effects. Finally, firms maintaining banking relationships based on transactional technologies are more likely to be credit denied, while the use of relationship lending technologies improves credit availability for both small and large enterprises.