SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Lancia, Francesco; Prarolo, Giovanni.

Over the past century, all OECD countries have been characterized by a dramatic increase in economic conditions, life expectancy and educational attainment. This paper provides a positive theory that explains how an economy might evolve when the longevity of its citizens both influences and is influenced by the process of economic development. We propose a three periods OLG model where agents, during their lifetime, cover different economic roles characterized by different incentive schemes and time horizon. Agents decisions embrace two dimensions: the private choice about education and the public one upon innovation policy. The theory focuses on the crucial role played by heterogeneous interests in determining innovation policies, which are one of the...

An Outlook for the Biofuels Industry in the Southern United States

Palavras-chave: Growth; Life Expectancy; Human Capital; Systemic Innovation; Majority Voting; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D70; J10; O14; O31; O43.

Ano: 2007

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/9552

Crooks, Anthony C.; Dunn, John R..

Two seemingly unrelated topics are discussed- an outlook for biofuels in the southern United States, along with an overview of the important role that information technology is playing in the fuel ethanol industry. The outlook discussion is limited to issues involving the two principal biofuels, fuel ethanol and biodiesel, and their respective feed stocks, corn and soybean oil. The two topics are linked with a description of how information technology (IT) has enabled the development of the fuel ethanol franchise and a discussion of how IT is changing the very nature of biofuel operations.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Biodiesel; Biofuels; Fuel ethanol; Fuel ethanol franchise; Information technology; IT; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; O14; O31; Q12; Q13; Q16.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43771

BUSINESS FUNCTIONS APPROACH TO INNOVATIVE AND NON-INNOVATIVE BUSINESS COMPARISON IN LATVIA

Hilkevics, Sergejs; Stefenberga, Dace.

State system of innovative business support was created in Latvia during last years and the first conclusions about the efficiency of this system can be made at present time. To evaluate the efficiency of innovative business support system it is necessary to compare in some way innovative and non-innovative companies. The main task of this article is to provide the frame for innovative and non-innovative business comparison and describe on the base of this frame the main differences between innovative and non-innovative companies in Latvia at present time. The main result of investigation is the conclusion that at present time innovative business has certain advantages for development in Latvia, especially in regions, because the main weak point of...

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Innovative business; Business functions; Regional economic development; Public Economics; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O31; O32; R58.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/92339

Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Klein, Peter G.; Bullock, J. Bruce.

Is entrepreneurship an innate ability or an acquired skill? Can entrepreneurship acumen be achieved and enhanced through education and training, or are certain people “born” to be entrepreneurs or to act entrepreneurially? Economists and management theorists give widely divergent answers to these questions. This paper reviews the major approaches to teaching entrepreneurship, primarily at the undergraduate level, and relates them to economic theories of entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, we find little connection between the leading approaches to entrepreneurship education and economists’ understanding of the entrepreneurial function. We assess likely explanations for the lack of contact between these two groups of scholars and suggest possible...

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Alertness; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Opportunity identification; Resource acquisition; Uncertainty bearing; Risk and Uncertainty; Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession; M13; A22; O31.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/43779

Capital and financing innovation processes in enterprises in Poland: selected aspects

Changing Productivity in U.S. Petroleum Exploration and Development

Janasz, Krzysztof.

Every economic entity undertakes various complex activities that aim at achieving strategic goals. This complex plane of strategic activities certainly includes pro-innovative activity consisting in creating and implementing innovations that help to gain competitive advantage. Undoubtedly, enterprises need capital. Without capital they are not able to positively influence the economic growth of any country. The aim of this article is to present the relationship between capital and financing innovation projects in Poland.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Capital; Innovation; Capital gap; Financial engineering.; Financial Economics; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O31.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94632

Bohi, Douglas R..

This study analyzes sources of productivity change in petroleum exploration and development in the United States over the last ten years. There have been several major developments in the industry over the last decade that have led to dramatic reductions in the cost of finding and developing oil and natural gas resources. While some of the cost savings are organizational and institutional in nature, the most important changes are in the application of new technologies used to find and produce oil and gas: 3D seismology, horizontal drilling, and deepwater drilling. Not all the innovation is endogenous to the industry; some rests on outside advances (such as advances in high-speed computing that enabled 3D seismology), as well as learning-by-doing. The...

Cotton Production in Uganda: Would GM technologies be the Solution?

Palavras-chave: Petroleum supply; Technical change; World oil market; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; Q31; O31.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10902

Horna, J. Daniela; Kyotalimye, Miriam; Falck-Zepeda, Jose Benjamin.

The government of Uganda is currently testing the performance of genetically modified (GM) cotton varieties. Cotton is cultivated in Uganda for two main reasons: 1) agro-ecological conditions favor cotton cultivation, and 2) there is a long tradition of cotton cultivation in the country. Two main research questions are addressed in this study: a) would the adoption of genetically modified (GM) cotton benefit Ugandan farmers? b) Would the use of GM seed be more profitable than the low input traditional system or than the organic production system? Stochastic budget analysis is used to address these questions. The results show that estimated values of cotton profitability do not seem to justify the investment in a complex technology. The question then is how...

Crisis as a catalyst: the role of Schumpeterian innovation in the Lithuanian economy

Palavras-chave: Stochastic budget analysis; GM cotton; Organic cotton; Agricultural and Food Policy; Production Economics; Risk and Uncertainty; O3; O31; O55.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/51823

Giedraitis, Vincentas Rolandas; Rasteniene, Ausra.

What circumstances allow businesses to flourish in a stagnant world economy? We ask that question in our discussion of the uniquely favorable circumstances of the biotechnology sector in Lithuania. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Lithuania’s ability to expand its economy during a time of crisis, focusing on its unique ability to innovate in such sectors as biotechnology.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Schumpeter; Innovation; Kondratiev wave; Biotechnology; Business cluster theory; Financial Economics; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O31; O32.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94527

Determinants of Food Industry Performance – Empirical Evidence Based on a Survey

Furtan, William Hartley; Sauer, Johannes.

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of firms’ performance in the agri-food sector by using recent survey data for Denmark. Treating sales per employee as a proxy for value addition we estimate several bootstrapped regression models to draw conclusions on the marginal effects of potential performance determinants such as the form and nature of ownership, stage of the food chain and commodity sector, new product development, staff quality, firms’ competitive stance, and elements of firms’ strategy. To draw robust inferences we apply, besides the ordinary heteroscedasticity corrected Tobit ML-estimator, a nonparametric least absolute deviations estimator (LAD/CLAD) based on a quantile regression procedure. The results indicate that we cannot...

DETERMINANTS OF FOOD INDUSTRY PERFORMANCE – SURVEY DATA AND REGRESSIONS FOR DENMARK

Palavras-chave: Value added; Innovation; Organizational type; Agribusiness; Q13; O31; O33.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/6422

Furtan, William Hartley; Sauer, Johannes.

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of firms’ performance in the agrifood sector by using recent survey data for Denmark. Treating sales per employee as a proxy for value added we estimate several bootstrapped regression models to draw conclusions on the marginal effects of potential performance determinants such as the form and nature of ownership, stage of the food chain and commodity sector, new product development, staff quality, firms’ competitive stance, and elements of firms’ strategy. To draw robust inferences we apply, besides the ordinary heteroscedasticity corrected Tobit ML-estimator, a nonparametric least absolute deviations estimator (LAD/CLAD) based on a quantile regression...

Does Intellectual Property Protection Spur Technological Change?

Palavras-chave: Value added; Innovation; Organizational type; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Q13; O31; O33.

Ano: 2008

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/36851

Kanwar, Sunil; Evenson, Robert E..

Of the diverse factors motivating technological change, one factor that has received increasing attention in the recent past has been the protection of intellectual property rights. Given fairly recent changes in the international policy ethos where a regime of stronger intellectual property protection has become a fait accompli for most developing countries, it is of some significance to ask whether more stringent protection of intellectual property does indeed encourage innovation. And this is the question which this paper examines, utilising cross-country panel data on R&D investment, patent protection and other country-specific characteristics spanning the period 1981-1990. The evidence unambiguously indicates the significance of intellectual...

Emerging markets and innovation: A partnership for global progress

Palavras-chave: Intellectual property rights; Technological change; Economic growth; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O34; O31.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28432

Sara, Tejinder; Hall Jackson, Faye.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss the role innovation plays in global competition and discuss how companies from some of the emerging markets are using innovation to compete with global companies from the developed world. Innovation is linked to the marketing concept as a driver for developing new products, services, and/or delivery systems. As global borders disappear, and training and education along with trade freedom increase, the opportunity for innovation increases. This writing offers a forward look into the global possibilities of emerging market innovation.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Innovation; Global competition; Innovation firms.; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D21; F23; M16; O31.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/95945

ENDOGENOUS RECOMBINANT GROWTH

Tsur, Yacov; Zemel, Amos.

We extend Weitzman's (1998) recombinant growth framework to include endogenous R&D decisions. The analysis is carried out in the (knowledge-capital) state space by means of two characteristic curves: one is identified as a turnpike along which growing economies evolve; the other attracts stagnating economies. Sustained growth depends on a condition relating the slopes of the characteristic curves as well as on a minimal endowment requirement. A growing economy reaches the turnpike at a most rapid R&D rate and evolves along it thereafter. In the long run, the rate of growth and the income shares devoted to R&D, saving and consumption approach constant values that depend on the asymptotic characteristic slopes.

Evaluation of innovation activities of small and medium-sized businesses in Slovak Republic

Palavras-chave: Knowledge generation; Combined ideas; Endogenous R&D; Balanced growth; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods; C61; O31; O41.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/7135

Sopkova, Eva; Kostiviarova, Silvia.

The aim of the presented paper is to contribute to the discussion on innovation activities of small and medium-sized businesses of the Slovak Republic and the European Union. It is based on the results of research carried out by the National Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (NADSME), where the focus was on the innovation capacity of small and medium firms in Slovakia. And it was complemented by the results of an analysis of firms’ innovation activities in the Banská Bystrica region carried out within the project “Regional Innovation Strategy of the Banska Bystrica Region”.

Tipo: Journal Article

Palavras-chave: Innovation; Innovation activities; Small and medium-sized businesses.; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O31; O32.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94565

Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring

Naghavi, Alireza; Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P..

We develop an endogenous growth model to study the long run consequences of offshoring with firm heterogeneity and incomplete contracts. In so doing, we model offshoring as the geographical fragmentation of a firm’s production chain between a home upstream division and a foreign downstream one. On the positive side, we show that, when contracts are incomplete, the possibility of offshoring has favorable implications for economic growth. Yet, offshoring induced by a higher bargaining power of the upstream division can hamper growth: while there is always a positive correlation between upstream bargaining weight and offshoring activities, there is a non-monotonic relationship between these and growth. Whether offshoring with incomplete contracts also...

Gender, Agricultural Commercialization, and Collective Action in Kenya

Palavras-chave: Offshoring; Heterogeneous Firms; Incomplete Contracts; Growth; Industry Dynamics; Industrial Organization; D23; F23; L23; O31; O43.

Ano: 2009

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/52542

Fischer, Elisabeth; Qaim, Matin.

With the commercialization of agriculture, women are increasingly disadvantaged because of persistent gender-disparities in access to productive resources. Farmer collective action that intends to improve smallholder access to markets and technology could potentially accelerate this trend. Here, we use survey data of small-scale banana producers in Kenya to investigate the gender implications of recently established farmer groups. Traditionally, banana has been a women’s crop in Kenya. Our results confirm that the groups contribute to increasing male control over banana. While male control over banana revenues does not affect household food security, it has a negative marginal effect on dietary quality. We demonstrate that the negative gender implications...

Tipo: Working Paper

Palavras-chave: Gender; Collective action; Market access; Agricultural technology; Household food security and nutrition; Kenya; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D71; J16; O12; O13; O31; Q13.

Ano: 2012

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/121229

How to Win Schumpeterian Competition. Technological Transfers in the German Plastics Industry from the 1930s to the 1970s

Streb, Jochen.

Introducing the concept of innovation capital we will analyse conditions under which a national industry is able to succeed in international Schumpeterian competition. Then we will discuss the significance of this concept for the economic development of the German plastics industry from the 1930s to the 1970s. Using a repeated game model of technological cooperation we will especially focus on technological transfers from chemical firms to plastics fabricators. We will deploy both a microeconomic approach when viewing product innovations transferred by the so-called Kunststoffrohstoffabteilung (KURO) of chemical firm BASF, and a macroeconomic approach when looking at the development of total factor productivity in the German plastics fabricating industry....

Improving the Energy-Efficiency of Buildings: The Impact of Environmental Policy on Technological Innovation

Palavras-chave: Technological transfer; Schumpeterian competition; Repeated game; Plastics industry; Germany; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; D83; L65; N64; O31.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/28374

Noailly, Joelle.

This paper investigates the impact of alternative environmental policy instruments on technological innovations aiming to improve energy-efficiency in buildings. The empirical analysis focuses on three main types of policy instruments, namely regulatory energy standards in buildings codes, energy taxes as captured by energy prices and specific governmental energy R&D expenditures. Technological innovation is measured using patent counts for specific technologies related to energy-efficiency in buildings (e.g. insulation, high-efficiency boilers, energy-saving lightings). The estimates for seven European countries over the 1989-2004 period imply that a strengthening of 10% of the minimum insulation standards for walls would increase the likelihood to...

Industry-Science Connections in Agriculture: Do public science collaborations and knowledge flows contribute to firm-level agricultural research productivity?

Palavras-chave: Innovation; Technological Change; Patents; Energy-Efficiency; Buildings; Environmental Policy; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; O31; O34; Q55.

Ano: 2010

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/94777

Toole, Andrew A.; King, John L..

Prior research identifies a direct positive link between the stock of public scientific knowledge and agricultural productivity; however, an indirect contribution to agricultural productivity is also possible when this stock facilitates private sector invention. This study examines how “connectedness” between the stock of public scientific knowledge and private firms influences firm-level research productivity. Bibliographic information identifies the nature and degree to which firms use public agricultural science through citations and collaborations on scientific papers. Fixed effects models show that greater citations and collaborations with university researchers are associated with greater agricultural research productivity.

Innovation and Institutional Ownership

Palavras-chave: Public science; Research productivity; Patents; Citations; Collaboration; R&D; Productivity Analysis; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; Q16; O31.

Ano: 2011

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/103211

Aghion, Philippe; Van Reenen, John; Zingales, Luigi.

We find that institutional ownership in publicly traded companies is associated with more innovation (measured by cite-weighted patents). To explore the mechanism through which this link arises, we build a model that nests the lazy-manager hypothesis with career-concerns, where institutional owners increase managerial incentives to innovate by reducing the career risk of risky projects. The data supports the career concerns model. First, whereas the lazy manager hypothesis predicts a substitution effect between institutional ownership and product market competition (and managerial entrenchment generally), the career-concern model allows for complementarity. Empirically, we reject substitution effects. Second, CEOs are less likely to be fired in the face of...