Actors' Heterogeneity in Innovation Networks

Several interpretations converge in defining innovation networks as formed by heterogeneous actors, mainly identified in universities, research centers, and business companies. While the issue of actors' heterogeneity has generated active debate in strategy and organization studies, there has been little discussion so far in exploring the role of this diversity in innovation networks.Drawn from previous literature, we identify six attributes of actors' heterogeneity which seem to matter for the development of collaborative innovation: goals, knowledge bases, capabilities and competences, perceptions, power and position, culture. This paper is aimed at pursuing issues in need of further investigation. In particular 1. how the interplay of diverse actors' attributes shapes the interaction process in the development of collaborative innovation; 2. if and how combinations of their attributes are more likely to generate certain consequences in interaction; and 3. the degree to which heterogeneity is preferable to homogeneity for the effectiveness of innovation networks. In a recursive relationship, we also call for more research on the mechanisms that lead actors' attributes to change as an effect of interaction as well as on the interaction capabilities actors apply to manage heterogeneity.     

The 2008/09 Economic Crisis: The Impact on Psychological Well-Being in the USA

The 2008/09 economic crisis has been the worst crisis of capitalism since the Great Depression. The causes and implications of the so-called “Great Recession” have been widely documented, but the effects of the crisis on psychological well-being have only received limited attention. Using state-level data, this paper aims to assess empirically the impact of the 2008/09 crisis on several indicators of mental health in the USA. The results indicate that unemployment and income levels have a significant and detrimental impact on mental health. This implies that social protection systems—and in particular labor market programs—play a paramount role in reducing the adverse impact of the crisis on mental health.     

Devolving Skills: The Case of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers*

One rationale for devolution is that local decision makers may be well placed to adapt national policies to the local context. We test whether such adaptation helps meet programme objectives in the case of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers. Originally a national programme, aimed at incentivising employers to take on apprentices, reforms a few years into operation gave some Local Authorities negotiated flexibilities in how the scheme operated. We consider the impact of the national scheme and then use a difference-in-differences approach to test whether flexibility led to an increase in the number of apprenticeship starts in devolved areas relative to control groups. We find that flexibility had zero effect. There is suggestive evidence that this is because flexibilities were negotiated on the wrong margins.     

经济增长与气候稳定是否相协调?——以中国和印度为例

世界资本主义目前正接受着气候变化的挑战,这主要是由与矿石燃料消耗相关的温室气体的排放造成的。为了预防这一灾难性环境后果威胁到人类的生存,在资本主义内部必须对经济增长做出根本性和即时性承诺。从对在世界经济中中国和印度的崛起与气候危机之间的相互关系分析表明,要达到减排目标几乎需要实现经济零增长,以减轻气候危机。在大量使用矿石燃料基础上的传统发展模式不再适用,中国和印度需要更改它们的发展模式。只有一种重在社会和环境进步,而不是经济增长的新型发展战略,才可以为人类未来带来更多的福祉。     

An empirical study of consumer behavior related to private labels and national brand promotions

One day while in the store, Bernard grabs his usual Dominick's cream cheese off the shelf. I notice and point out that the national brand of Philadelphia cream cheese is on sale and less expensive. Bernard looks at the two products and actually hesitates for a while to switch to the national brand. His hesitation makes it clear that his preference is not based solely on price. (Chang Coupland 2005, 115).     

Time overruns as opportunistic behavior in public procurement

We consider the supplier’s strategic choice on delivery time in a public procurement setting as the result of the firm’s opportunistic behavior on the optimal investment timing when production costs are uncertain. We model the supplier’s trade-off between the option value to defer the contract execution and the penalty payment in the event of delays. We also take into account the issue of penalty enforcement, which in turn depends on both the discretion of the court of law in voiding contractual clauses and the “efficiency” of the judicial system (i.e. the average length of civil trials). We test our main results on Italian public procurement data showing that the supplier’s incentive to delay is greater the higher the volatility of production costs and the lower the “efficiency” of the judicial system. We then calibrate the model using parameters that mimic the Italian scenario on public works procurement and calculate the maximum amount that a supplier is “willing to pay” (per day) to postpone the delivery date and infringe the contract provisions. Our calibration results are consistent with the theoretical model’s predictions and the empirical findings.     

Factors affecting technology transfer offices' performance in the Italian food context

In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to the commercialisation of knowledge and technologies developed by universities and public research institutions. A central role in this particular process is played by the technology transfer offices (TTOs), which are on the one hand in charge of promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology to external companies, and on the other hand are also responsible for protecting and licensing the intellectual property of the research organisation. This paper is focused on a TTO operating in the food context, with the specific objectives of identifying the performance indicators and the main factors affecting its performance and, finally, analysing the relationships among these factors. Results highlighted the importance of both external and internal factors for the performance of a TTO operating in this context. In addition, we found both direct and indirect relations within these factors.     

Core and equilibria in coalitional asymmetric information economies

We study coalitional economies under uncertainty and asymmetric information, assuming a finitely additive measure space of agents and finitely many possible states of nature. We introduce a suitable core notion showing that it is equivalent to Walrasian expectations equilibria. The finitely additive approach proposed in the paper permits also asymmetric information economy with countably many agents, rather than requiring only a continuum. Moreover, it allows us to overcome well-known criticisms related to the interpretation of individual private core notions.