Quality heterogeneity and global economic growth

This paper develops a fully endogenous, variety-expansion growth model with firm-specific quality heterogeneity, limit pricing, and an endogenous distribution of markups. Firms with high-quality products engage in exporting, firms with intermediate-quality products serve the domestic market, and inefficient firms with low-quality products exit the market. Trade liberalization, measured by a reduction in trade costs or a decline in foreign market entry costs, generates a reallocation of resources from low-quality to high-quality products and exit of inefficient firms. However, it has ambiguous effects on the average global quality level, long-run growth, and welfare. An increase in the rate of population growth or in the intensity of trade-related knowledge spillovers accelerates economic growth. The laissez-faire equilibrium is inefficient, and this leaves room for welfare-improving government intervention.     

国际贸易、R&D溢出和生产率增长

本文采用6种计算外国R&D资本的方法和国际R&D溢出回归方法,首次就国际R&D溢出对中国工业行业的技术进步增长、技术效率增长和全要素生产率增长的影响作了实证分析。我们从这6种方法的比较中发现:当采用有缺陷的两种方法时,得到国际R&D溢出系数显著为负或者溢出系数为正,但不显著的结论;而采用其他的四种方法,能得到国际R&D溢出系数显著为正的结论。因此,从计算方法本身及其结论的比较来看,通过国际贸易渠道的R&D溢出促进了中国工业行业的技术进步、技术效率及全要素生产率增长的结论更可靠。同时发现在大部分情况下国内本行业R&D与其他行业R&D对行业技术进步、技术效率和全要素生产率的增长起阻碍作用。因此,加强与R&D投入比重较高的发达国家的国际贸易以及提高国内自身的R&D效率显得很有必要。     

The role of public infrastructure and subsidies for firm location and international outsourcing

This paper presents a model in which final goods producers outsource intermediate input production. Intermediate inputs are differentiated and their production can be located at home or abroad. The model is used to examine competitive location policy in a (two-country) free trade area (FTA). It is shown that national public infrastructure investment has a positive effect on both the number of intermediate input producers and the return to the immobile factor in the home country. International outsourcing from home declines. Opposite effects are triggered in the partner country. In a welfare analysis we characterize national infrastructure policies that aim to maximize national income (net of tax costs) and compare the non-cooperative FTA-equilibrium with optimal policies from an integrated point of view. We show whether or not there is a need for policy coordination. Firm subsidies are discussed as an alternative to public infrastructure investment.     

On the effects of human capital and R&D policies in an endogenous growth model

We introduce an external effect of existing technologies in human capital accumulation in an endogenous growth model and describe its steady-state and transition. We numerically solve the model to compare the quantitative effects of R&D policy with the quantitative effects of human capital policy in wealth and welfare. Although R&D subsidies have now an overall positive effect on growth, wealth and welfare, the calibration exercise shows that for plausible values for the parameters, human capital policy is simultaneously the most income and welfare-improving and the less expensive to the government.     

The productivity effects of local R&D outsourcing: the moderating role of subsidiary mandate and internal R&D

This study examined the moderating effects of two kinds of internal R&D (parent R&D and subsidiary R&D) on the relationship between local R&D outsourcing and subsidiary productivity as internal R&D challenges the collaborative relationships in the local environment. Due to the specific feature of a subsidiary mandate, we further investigate whether two distinct kinds of internal R&D have different moderating effects between exploitation-oriented subsidiaries and exploration-oriented subsidiaries, based on a sample of longitudinal data set of 263 Taiwan-based manufacturing subsidiaries over the period 2006–2009. The empirical results show that for exploitation-oriented subsidiaries parent R&D plays a significant and negative moderating role on the impact of local R&D outsourcing based on local collaboration, while a positive moderating role is observed with parent R&D and subsidiary R&D for exploration-oriented subsidiaries.     

开放条件下的R＆D与比较优势的动态变化

文章探讨了比较优势实现动态变化的路径问题，并着重讨论专业化的研发投入（R＆D）对比较实现动态变化的影响，认为绝对的研发效率是比较优势实现动态转化的条件。在此基础上，讨论了动态比较优势与福利增长之间的关系，结论表明，比较优势实现动态变化对于保证福利水平的长期增长来说是必不可少的。     

The internationalization of firms in the service industries: Channels, determinants and sectoral patterns

The paper presents the results of a new survey on the international activities of Norwegian enterprises in the service industries. The survey focuses on three main internationalization channels: international sales, international cooperation and R&D outsourcing. The empirical analysis studies the relevance of these channels, and investigates the related strategies, objectives and determinants. International sales and collaborations emerge as the two most relevant channels, whereas the scope for R&D outsourcing seems to be far more limited. The analysis of the determinants of international activities leads to three main results: (1) the innovative capability of firms matters for their international performance; (2) the various internationalization channels seem to be complement, rather than substitute, strategies to compete in foreign markets; and (3) sectoral specificities greatly affect firms' internationalization strategies and performance.     

Testing creative destruction in an opening economy

This paper analyses the relationship between trade liberalization and economic growth using a Schumpeterian framework of technological innovation and applies it to sector‐level South African data. The framework examines direct and indirect effects of trade liberalization on productivity growth. Indirect impacts operate through a differential impact of trade liberalization on firms conditional on their distance from the international technological frontier. Results confirm positive direct impacts of trade liberalization. Results confirm also that the greatest positive impact of trade liberalization will be on sectors that are close to the international technological frontier and that experienced a low level of product market competition before liberalization.     

On the growth and welfare effects of monopolistic distortions

The most fundamental proposition about growth and competition is that there is a tradeoff between static welfare and long-term growth. This paper reconsiders this basic proposition in an expanding variety endogenous growth model with competitive markets for “old” innovative products and for a traditional good. We shed light on some implications of monopolistic distortions which tend to be ignored by standard models. First, no growth may be better than some growth, since modest positive growth potentially requires sizeable static welfare losses. Second, the economy may converge to a steady state with zero growth, even though a locally saddle-point stable steady state with positive growth exists if the initial share of “cheap” competitive markets is sufficiently high, as this implies a relatively low demand for “expensive” innovative goods. Third, such a “no-growth trap” may happen in a world economy made up of several countries engaged in free trade with each other. The policy implications are that growth-enhancing policies may be misguided and that quick deregulation as well as quick trade liberalization can lead to stagnation in the long term.      

The politics of growth: Can lobbying raise growth and welfare?

We consider a setup where lobbyist firms undertake contributions to an office-motivated policy maker in exchange for profit increasing regulations, in a general equilibrium model of R&D-driven growth. We find that, despite increasing concentration—which leads to higher prices and less varieties—lobbying may stimulate growth and increase welfare by means of an expansion in aggregate demand if its real costs are small. This conclusion is supported by a simple calibration exercise.     

Sharing R&D investments in cleaner technologies to mitigate climate change

This paper examines international cooperation on technological development as an alternative to international cooperation on GHG emission reductions. It is assumed that when countries cooperate they coordinate their investments so as to minimize the agreement costs of controlling emissions. Further it is assumed that in such cases they also pool their R&D efforts so as to fully internalize the spillover effects of their investments in R&D. In order to analyze the scope of cooperation, an agreement formation game is solved in three stages. First, countries decide whether or not to sign the agreement. Then, in the second stage, signatories (playing together) and non-signatories (playing individually) select their investment in R&D. Finally, in the third stage, each country decides on its level of emissions non-cooperatively. For linear environmental damages and quadratic investment costs, our findings show that the maximum participation in a R&D agreement consists of six countries and that participation decreases as spillover effects increase until a minimum participation consisting of three countries is reached.     

Outsourcing of innovation

This paper looks at the outsourcing of research and development (R&D) activities. We consider cost reducing R&D and allow manufacturing firms to decide whether to outsource the project to research subcontractors or carry out the research in-house. We use a principal-agent framework and consider fixed and revenue-sharing contracts. We solve for the optimal contract under these constraints. We find that allowing for revenue-sharing contracts increases the chance of outsourcing and improves economic efficiency. However, the principal may still find it optimal to choose a contract that allows the leakage to occur—a second-best outcome when leakage cannot be monitored or verified. Stronger protection of trade secrets can induce more R&D outsourcing without inhibiting technology diffusion and increase economic efficiency, as long as it does not significantly lengthen the product cycle. We have benefitted from comments from Andy Daughety, Bob Becker, Rick Bond, Kenneth Chan, Kenji Fujiwara, Shingo Ishiguro, Ron Jones, Seiichi Katayama, Pravin Krishna, Stephanie Lau, Jennifer Reinganum, Koji Shimomura, Eden Yu, two anonymous referees, an editor, and seminar participants at Arizona State, Indiana, Kobe, Osaka, Purdue, Michigan State, UC-Irvine, Vanderbilt, the American Economic Association Meeting in Philadelphia, the Midwest Economic Theory and International Trade Meetings at Indianapolis, the Public Economic Theory Conference in Beijing (China), the WTO and Globalization Conference at Hitotsubashi (Japan), the ETSG meeting in Nottingham (UK), and the CES-IFO Conference in Munich (Germany). We also thank Marketa Sonkova for research assistance. Financial support by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong SAR, China (Project No. CityU1476/05H) and the Department of Economics and Finance of City University of Hong Kong is acknowledged. The usual disclaimer applies.     

The Long-Run Growth Effects of R&D Subsidies

This article presents a generalized versionof Howitt's (1999) model of R&D-driven growth withoutscale effects and a complete characterization of the long-rungrowth effects of R&D subsidies. R&D subsidiescan either promote or retard long-run economic growth, and surprisingly,the growth-retarding outcome occurs for a wide range of plausibleparameter values. This article also presents a new intuitiveexplanation for why R&D subsidies can have long-rungrowth effects (both positive and negative).     

论天山南北坡外贸与经济的协调发展

外贸是拉动经济增长的动力之一，天山南北坡经济带外贸近年保持快速发展并在新疆外贸中占有举足轻重的地位，但由于未发挥地方资源及产业优势，故对地方经济增长拉动性不强，而解决措施在于建立立足资源优势的农业和林果业、工业，将天山南北坡建设成加工贸易的生产基地并加快利用高科技对传统产业的改造。     

How does leverage affect R&D intensity and how does R&D intensity impact on firm value in South Korea?

We examine how leverage affects corporate research and development (R&D) intensity, as well as examine the impact of R&D on firm value in South Korea, a country in which corporate-funded R&D intensity is one of the highest in the world. Among our main results, we find that growth opportunities have a positive effect on R&D intensity, while leverage has a negative effect on R&D intensity. When leverage is at an extremely high level, the relationship between growth opportunities and R&D intensity turns from positive to negative. Using instrumental variables, we find that R&D generates an increase in firm value.     

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF EDUCATION IN A R&D-BASED GROWTH MODEL

We develop a R&D‐based growth model with endogenous accumulation of human capital. We investigate the idea that education is a good entering in the preferences of individuals. We seek to analyse how the decisions of individuals to invest in human capital can be altered by changes in economic policies and how they can be reflected on the level of growth in the long run. We show that policy changes affect growth through their effect on the decision of individuals to invest in human capital. The effects obtained depend whether individuals enjoy to acquire education or if they consider it as a ‘bad’. In the absence of any policy intervention, the level of growth can be excessive or insufficient compared with the optimum.