Appropriability mechanisms,innovation, and productivity: evidence from the UK

ABSTRACT

We use an extended version of the well-established Crepon, Duguet, and Mairesse model [1998. “Research, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology 7 (2): 115–158] to model the relationship between appropriability mechanisms, innovation, and firm-level productivity. We enrich this model in three ways: (1) We compare estimates obtained using a broader definition of innovation spending to those that use R&D spending. (2) We assume that a firm simultaneously innovates and chooses among different appropriability methods to protect the innovation. (3) We estimate the impact of innovation output on firm productivity conditional on the choice of appropriability mechanism. We find that firms that innovate and rate formal methods for the protection of intellectual property highly are more productive than other firms, but that the same does not hold in the case of informal methods of protection, except possibly for large firms as opposed to SMEs. We also find that this result is strongest for firms in the services, trade, and utility sectors, and negative in the manufacturing sector.     

Aid for trade and trade policy in recipient countries

ABSTRACT

This article explores the impact of Aid for Trade (AfT) flows on trade policy in 123 recipient countries over the period of 2002 to 2015. It shows empirical evidence that AfT interventions are conducive to trade policy liberalization. These results apply to both the entire sample and to the sub-sample of least developed countries (LDCs). Additionally, the analysis shows that the lower the development level, the higher the positive impact of AfT inflows on recipient countries’ trade policy liberalization, although above the US$ 4,885.40 threshold of real per capita income, AfT inflows exert no significant impact on trade policy.     

Export Product Diversification and Public Revenue’s Dependence on Resource Revenue

ABSTRACT

This article tries to reconcile two major priorities for countries, notably resource-rich countries on the international development agenda: export product diversification with a view to helping them better integrate into the multilateral trading system and tax reforms with a view to reducing the dependence of total public revenue on resource revenue, and therefore developing a more sustainable stream of public revenue. The analysis therefore involves examining empirically the impact of export product diversification on countries’ overall public revenue dependence on resource revenue, this dependence being measured by the share of resource revenue in total public revenue. The empirical analysis shows that export product diversification exerts a negative and significant impact on resource revenue share of total public revenue, and therefore could help facilitate tax reforms towards lower resource revenue dependence. Hence, while tax policy is the main policy tool to conduct tax reforms, export product diversification would likely contribute to facilitating the implementation of these reforms.     

Relative Trade Preferential Margin and Aid for Trade Allocation

This article investigates the interplay between non-reciprocal trade preferences and Aid for Trade (AfT) by examining the extent to which relative preferential margins (RPM) enjoyed by recipient countries affect AfT flows supplied by donors. The empirical results suggest that the RPM exerts a significant and positive impact on the bilateral AfT inflows that recipient countries enjoy from donors. In addition, when this impact is lower, the higher the recipient countries’ level of economic development. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that the influence of RPM on AfT is dependent on non-AfT (i.e., the aid flows allocated to the non-trade sector) allocated to recipient countries.     

Aid for trade and export diversification in recipient‐countries

The Aid‐for‐Trade (AfT) Initiative was launched by the Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a view to helping developing countries and the least‐developed countries (LDCs) expand their trade. The current paper contributes to the literature on AfT effectiveness by examining how AfT affects recipient‐countries' export product diversification. The analysis has been carried out on a sample of 104 AfT recipient‐countries over the period 2002–2015 and uses the two‐step system generalised methods of moments (GMM) approach. Results show that AfT flows are conducive to export product diversification in recipient‐countries. In addition, the analysis has shown a positive impact of the cumulative AfT flows on the export product diversification path of these countries. These results apply as well to the subsamples of LDCs and other developing countries. One policy implication of these results is that a scale‐up of AfT would help recipient‐countries to diversify their export products baskets and hence facilitate their greater integration into the global trading system.     

Gender,borrowing patterns and self-employment: some evidence for England

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we try to identify whether women have different borrowing patterns from men when trying to get into self-employment along with the factors that explain these different propensities. Second, we try to quantify the impact of these differences in borrowing propensity on women’s willingness to become self-employed. The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of individuals drawn from the English Household Survey of Entrepreneurship, 2003. Our results show that (1) women are less likely than men to seek external finance and that (2) gender differences in access to finance are affecting adversely the transition into self-employment.     

Is competition really bad news for cooperatives? Some empirical evidence for Italian producers’ cooperatives

In this paper, we analyse the nature of the relationship between market power and technical efficiency for producers’ cooperatives. More specifically we test two hypotheses: first, we evaluate the extent to which increasing market pressure may help producers’ cooperatives to improve technical efficiency to guarantee positive profits; second, we test whether higher technical efficiency induces producers’ cooperatives to have a larger market share. These hypotheses are tested on a sample of Italian conventional and cooperative firms for the Wine Production and Processing sector, using both frontier analysis and dynamic panel techniques. The results support the hypothesis that increasing market pressure can affect positively the cooperatives′ efficiency, while gains in technical efficiency do not seem to have any impact on the cooperatives’ market share.

Exploring the adoption of a service innovation: A study of Internet banking adopters and non-adopters

Internet banking (IB) is the latest and most innovative service offered by the banks in Turkey. However, recent indicators regarding IB use in Turkey show that the majority of the Internet users have not adopted the service. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the process of IB adoption and to characterise different IB adopter and non-adopter segments in Turkey. The paper adopted a multi-method approach employing qualitative and quantitative types of research. The findings showed that IB adopters and non-adopters have different perceptual, experience related, socioeconomic and situational characteristics. It was further revealed that besides the perceptual factors related to IB use, perceptual factors in relation to the banks in Turkey were also influential in IB adoption process. The paper applied an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Theory of Perceived Risk to characterise different IB adopter and non-adopter categories. The paper provided a methodological contribution to the adoption literature by applying the TAM to the context of the Turkish bank market and studying the issue in a multi-method research format.