Who wins from innovation?

In this discussion paper the pcstion, 'who wins from innovation?', is interpreted i n terms of nations or regions rather than in terms of firms . In each case the body which spends money on R&D or other investment in technical change should ensure that benefits will accrue to the people to whom the body is accountable—the shareholders in the case of firm, the electorate in the case of a government. In the latter case, the key concept is 'regional appropriability'. Though simple, it is often overlooked. To help achieve greater regional appropriability, five, possible lines of approach are suggested: first, effective handling of intellectual prclperty matters; .second, local employment generation; third, contexted technology; fourth, valorization of diversity; and fifth, regional innovation networks.     

The Internationalisation of Services: Trends and Barriers

Original Papers

The Internationalisation of Services: Trends and Barriers     

The Cyclical Behavior of Net Exports: Temporary and Persistent Movements

This paper explores the empirical relationship of net exports, domestic output, and foreign output. It presents evidence supporting a consumption-smoothing motive for trade in goods. Classical models of the international macroeconomy typically allow for trade in claims on both home and foreign output. This paper lends empirical support to this setup by showing that highly transitory shocks to output cause net exports from the country experiencing the shock to rise. Persistent shocks have opposite effects—a result consistent with the role persistent shocks play in signaling future investment opportunities.     

Economics Education for all Schoolchildren

In the first of a series by teachers on the role of economics in school curricula and beyond, Fred Hankins, Secretary of the Economics Association, identifies the essentials of economics analysis — not least opportunity cost - desirable to equip pupils for a career.     

THE EFFECTS OF FLEXIBLE EXCHANGE RATES ON AUSTRALIAN WOOL PRICES*

The implication of price stabilisation under a volatile exchange rate is an increasingly volatile price denominated in a foreign currency. Time series analysis is used to model the relationship between exports, prices and AWC stocks. This model is used to assess the distribution of the impact of exchange rate shocks on prices denominated in local and foreign currencies. It is found that the AWC has significantly reduced the impact of exchange rate shocks on domestic prices.     

Organizational environment and business strategy: Parallel versus conflicting influences on human resource strategy in the pharmaceutical industry

While much attention in recent years has been focused on the issue of human resource strategy, little research has been conducted on the degree to which the various forces helping to shape human resource strategy exert parallel or conflicting influences. In this article, business environment and strategy influences on corporate human resource strategies in the pharmaceutical industry are examined. In particular, data derived from corporate annual reports are used to generate a grounded theory of where, when, and why environmental influences on human resource strategy may be more or less consistent with business strategy influences across a number of human resource strategy dimensions.