Country-Specific Characteristics of Patent Applications in France,Germany and the UK in the Biotechnology Sectors

Given that institutions are highly country-specific, the differences in the national systems of innovation in the different countries of Europe are likely to give rise to country-specific patterns in new technology investment. The objective of this paper is to identify such differences, in the biotechnology sectors, in France, Germany and the UK. The results, based on an analysis of patent applications, indicate that France is focused on the 'dominant' technology of genetic engineering and its public laboratories and collective patent applications play an important role. Germany is leading in the total number of patent applications but is focused on 'intermediate' and 'residual' technologies with a significant number of individual depositors. The UK is leading in the 'dominant' technology. Its public laboratories and firms are strongly involved in depositing patents with a marked strategy of international protection.     

Country-Specific Characteristics of Patent Applications in France, Germany and the UK in the Biotechnology Sectors

Given that institutions are highly country-specific, the differences in the national systems of innovation in the different countries of Europe are likely to give rise to country-specific patterns in new technology investment. The objective of this paper is to identify such differences, in the biotechnology sectors, in France, Germany and the UK. The results, based on an analysis of patent applications, indicate that France is focused on the 'dominant' technology of genetic engineering and its public laboratories and collective patent applications play an important role. Germany is leading in the total number of patent applications but is focused on 'intermediate' and 'residual' technologies with a significant number of individual depositors. The UK is leading in the 'dominant' technology. Its public laboratories and firms are strongly involved in depositing patents with a marked strategy of international protection.     

Deindustrialization in the UK: a comparison analysis with Japan

As a mature economy, the UK has experienced continuous decline in manufacturing competitiveness under the process of deindustrialization. On the other hand, the service sector has been developing a comparative advantage and creating new jobs. This article attempts to recognize the change in inter-dependence between industries, particularly the manufacturing and service sectors, in the process of deindustrialization. Using partitioned multiplier effects, I analyse the extent to which deindustrialization, particularly expansion in the service sector, has benefited the UK economy. I show that the contribution of the service sector to the UK economy has not been significant.     

Optimal accumulation in a small open economy with technological uncertainty

Summary. This paper analyzes the optimal allocation problem of a small trading country facing an uncertain technology. It is involved in production of many commodities. Differentiability cannot be guaranteed, hence, the Ramsey-Euler condition of optimality needs to be modified. From the optimality criterion, we derive a pair of conditions, which does not require differentiability. If “enough” uncertainty is allowed, the sequence of the distribution functions of investment expenditure converges uniformly to a unique invariant measure. In addition to the weak convergence of the stochastic process of investment expenditure we also have the sequences of the stochastic process of investment expenditure converging weakly. Received: September 8, 1994; revised version: September 25, 1997     

International comparison of technological activities and specializations: a patent-based monitoring system

Based on patent-based indicators, this study aims to an analyze the positions of a number of western contries in a broad spectrum of technology fields. Particular attention is focused on the Netherlands. Patent-based indicators reflect results of research and developement activities and may provide an insight into developement of possible economic interest. Earlier studies have shown a positive correlation between a country's patent position and the development of, for instance, foreign trade. We applied patent indicators to analyze a country's patenting activity in a field of technology as compared with the world average (or an average for a specific group of countries). It indicates to what extent a country 'specializes' in that field. Such an analysis yields a country's 'profile' as an 'inventor country'. Monitoring all fields, covering the whole area of technology for an extended period of time, by patent analysis provides an insight into the technological position of a particular country relative to other countries. The results of the analysis performed in this study are represented in a specific graphical form, covering both absolute and relative ('specializations') technological activites. Thus a monitoring system useful for technology policy and research and developement management is constructed.     

International comparison of technological activities and specializations: a patent-based monitoring system

Based on patent-based indicators, this study aims to an analyze the positions of a number of western contries in a broad spectrum of technology fields. Particular attention is focused on the Netherlands. Patent-based indicators reflect results of research and developement activities and may provide an insight into developement of possible economic interest. Earlier studies have shown a positive correlation between a country's patent position and the development of, for instance, foreign trade. We applied patent indicators to analyze a country's patenting activity in a field of technology as compared with the world average (or an average for a specific group of countries). It indicates to what extent a country ‘specializes’ in that field. Such an analysis yields a country's ‘profile’ as an ‘inventor country’. Monitoring all fields, covering the whole area of technology for an extended period of time, by patent analysis provides an insight into the technological position of a particular country relative to other countries. The results of the analysis performed in this study are represented in a specific graphical form, covering both absolute and relative (‘specializations’) technological activites. Thus a monitoring system useful for technology policy and research and developement management is constructed.     

Anticipation effects of technological progress on capital accumulation: a vintage capital approach

Due to embodied technological progress new generations of capital goods are more productive. Therefore, in order to study the effects of technological progress, a model must be analyzed in which different generations of capital goods can be distinguished. We determine in what way the firm adjusts current investments to predictions of technological progress. In the presence of market power we show that a negative anticipation effect occurs, i.e. current investments in recent generations of capital goods decline when faster technological progress will take place in the future, because then it becomes more attractive to wait for new generations of capital goods. In case that only investments in new machines are possible, actually a whole wave of anticipation phases arises.     

Capital Stock, Unemployment and Wages in the UK and Germany

This paper is concerned with the view that capital formation is an important variable in the determination of unemployment and wages in Germany and the UK. Adverse demand shocks affect employment and investment. When shocks reverse, unemployment may not fall to previous levels due to insufficient capital. The empirical results show that unemployment has risen in the last twenty years in both countries due to insufficient investment. Policies that are aimed at stimulating investment may have a permanent effect on unemployment in Germany and the UK.     

The impacts of innovations and standards on trade of measurement and testing products: empirical results of Switzerland’s bilateral trade flows with Germany, France and the UK

Nowadays, the impact of the measurement and testing infrastructure on economic performance and trade is theoretically and even politically widely accepted. However, there are no empirical studies on this issue. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the impact of innovative capacity and technical standards as one important part of the measurement and testing infrastructure on international trade flows and competitiveness. In order to focus on the direct causality between innovative technology and measurement and testing standards and the respective market, the empirical analysis concentrates on the trade of measurement and testing products of a country with a top position in measurement and testing technology. In its empirical analysis of Switzerland’s trade flows with Germany, France and the UK, the paper follows the approach of the pioneering paper of Swann et al. (Economic Journal 106 (1996) 1297), who integrated for the first time technical standards as a technology indicator in the estimation of UK trade performance. The trade flows in measurement and testing products from 1980 until 1995 are explained by both an indicator for innovative capacity and for the degree of standardisation. The first indicator is based on the patent applications at the European patent office. The latter uses the stocks of technical standards in the countries differentiated by their regional scope. Four different trade equations are analysed, besides an export and an import function, the trade balance and the intra-industry trade. The results clearly show that both Switzerland’s innovative capacity and its stocks of standards are able to explain its export performance in the three countries. Secondly, especially the stocks of international standards in Switzerland have a positive impact on imports into Switzerland from the three countries, confirming their positive role for fostering trade in general. Thirdly, Switzerland’s export surplus concerning the three trade partners is positively affected by the stocks of international standards in Switzerland, which seem to be an important factor for international competitiveness. Finally, the results of the intra-industry model underline the common view of the general trade-fostering effect of even national standards in the case of the trade with the three countries.     

Trade and the impact of innovations and standards: the case of Germany and the UK

The effects of patents as indicators for innovations and standards on German trade performance are analysed in general and German–British trade in detail. The latter analysis goes a step further than the approach of Swann et al. () and is based on a broader and more detailed database. The results show that Germany's export performance can primarily be explained by its innovative capacity and only to a small extent by its strength in standards. Furthermore, the results underscore the common view of the trade-fostering effect of international standards, while ‘idiosyncratic' standards have ambiguous effects on exports.     

Benefit Transfer: A Comparison of WTP for Air Quality between France and Germany

A contingent valuation study was carried out under similar conditions on two sites simultaneously: Strasbourg (France) and Kehl (Germany) in order to test the reliability of the benefit transfer method. On average, the air quality is approximately the same in the two cities. Using a transfer of the benefit function, we compared the direct estimated benefits from improved air quality with the transferred benefits in the same city. The originality of this test is that the valued good is the same in both cities, which means that the transfer is an intra-site transfer. However our findings show that the method of benefit transfer was not generally valid. Indeed inhabitants of Kehl declared a higher price for their state of health and air quality than inhabitants in Strasbourg. This result could be explained by a stronger sensitivity to environmental problems in Germany.     

Delphi analysis of national specificities in selected innovative areas in Germany and France

The increasing complexity of the relations between technologies and economics combined with more social pressure, global competition, technological change, as well as national budget restrictions, imply new challenges for public policies. Thus, to be able to forecast the development of knowledge and technological change in some well-known trajectories could be one of the major stakes for science technology and industrial policies. It is then not surprising that recent years have brought a significant revival of public foresight activities in many countries. The purpose of the paper is precisely to propose a new foresight method in order to obtain a taxonomy of the future technologies, and consequently to provide a better understanding of industrial dynamics. We present a statistical analysis of a Delphi investigation, based on scientific and technological knowledge complementarities, in order to obtain coherent clusters, which may be looked upon as a theoretical tool for political decisions. Our methodology is then applied to French and the German sectors of life sciences, elementary particles, energy, environment and natural resources.     

The effects of education and aging in an OLG model: long-run growth in France,Germany and Italy

The purpose of the paper is to provide a long-run analysis up to 2050 of the interplay between financial integration, diverging labor productivity, and the aging process in the larger European countries. We use the Prometeia overlapping generation model for Italy, Germany, and France which are modeled as open economies in capital markets. Our projections provide a core-periphery structure in which Germany, the most abundant human capital country, shows the highest but a decreasing growth rate due to pronounced aging, and finances capital accumulation processes in France and Italy. We find that financial trends are reversed in the late 2010s when Italy begins to over-save as the gap in human capital endowment, and then in productivity, becomes larger compared to the other two countries. This leads to a reduction in physical capital accumulation and innovation processes in Italy. We employ fiscal experiments to correct the long-run divergent behavior of countries in order to get a more homogeneous growth rate path among countries. We also measure the impact of taxation on net-wealth in Italy, and evaluate the internal and spillover effects.     

A comparison of clustering dynamics in the US and UK computer industries

This paper compares the dynamics of the process by which geographical clusters emerge in the US and UK computer industries, by modelling the evolution of firm growth and entry. In both countries, new companies are attracted by industry strength in particular sub-sectors in a particular region. Moreover, incumbent firms located in a cluster that is strong in their own sub-sector of the industry tend to grow faster than average. While there are some second order differences between the models estimated for the US and the UK, it appears that the dynamics of clustering are similar. In particular, there is no evidence that clustering effects are weaker in the UK than in the US.     

The forecasting ability of a cointegrated VAR system of the UK tourism demand for France, Spain and Portugal

This paper uses the vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology as an alternative to Deaton and Muellbauer’s Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS), to establish the long-run relationships between I(1) variables: tourism shares, tourism prices and UK tourism budget. With appropriate testing, the deterministic components and sets of exogenous and endogenous variables of the VAR are established, and Johansen’s rank test is used to determine the number of cointegrated vectors in the system. The cointegrated VAR structural form is identified and the long-run structural parameters are estimated. Theoretical restrictions such as homogeneity and symmetry are tested and not rejected by the VAR structure. The fully restricted cointegrated VAR model reveals itself a theoretically consistent and statistically robust means to analyse the long-run demand behaviour of UK tourists, and an accurate multi-step forecaster of the destinations’ shares when compared with unrestricted reduced form and first differenced VARs, or even with the structural AIDS model.     

四国地方政府改革比较研究

本文首先介绍了传统行政改革和新公共管理驱动的(NPM-inspired)行政改革的区分,并对一些定义和概念的适当用法作了评述.然后对大不列颠/英格兰、瑞典、德国、法国等四国地方政府改革的相关措施和绩效进行了评价.可以说,从民主责任、多功能和区域可行性上看,瑞典和德国的地方政府属传统类型,它们在这些方面做得相对好些,而英国和法国的地方政府相对来说绩效不如人意.