The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argumen...

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Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation

Is public R&D spending complementary and thus "additional" to private R&D spending, or does it substitute for and tend to "crowd out" private R&D? Conflicting answers are given to this question. We survey the body of available economectric evidence accumulated over the past 35 years. A framework for analysis of the problem i is developed to help organize and summarize the findings of econometric studies based on time series and cross-section data from various levels of aggregation (laboratory, firm, industry, country). The findings overall are ambivalent and the existing literature as as a whole is subject to the criticim that the nature of the "experiment(s)" that the investigators envisage is not adequately specified. We conclude by offering suggestions for improving future empirical research on this issue.

Is Public R&D a Complement or Substitute for Private R&D? A Review of the Econometric Evidence

Contemporary theories of entrepreneurship generally focus on the recognition of opportunities and the decision to exploit them. Although the entrepreneurship literature treats opportunities as exogenous, the prevailing theory of economic growth suggests they are endogenous. This paper advances the microeconomic foundations of endogenous growth theory by developing a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Knowledge created endogenously results in knowledge spillovers, which allow entrepreneurs to identify and exploit opportunities.

/pdf/the-knowledge-spillover-theory-of-entrepreneurship-xik2funin8.pdf

The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship

The paper re-examines critically the growing literature on localised knowledge spillovers (LKSs), and finds the econometric evidence on the subject still lacking of a firm theoretical background, especially in respect of the more recent developments in the economics of knowledge. Therefore such evidence, and even more the concept itself of LKS, should not be read as supportive of new industrial geographers' work on industrial districts, hi-tech agglomerations and 'milieux innovateur'. On the contrary, it may represent a threat to the necessary efforts for gaining more theoretical rigour and getting more empirical fieldwork done. Key words: knowledge, innovation, spillovers, externalities, regional agglomeration. JEL classification: D62, O30, R12

Knowledge spillovers and local innovation systems: a critical survey

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w7256/w7256.pdf

Assessing the impact of organizational practices on the relative productivity of university technology transfer offices: an exploratory study

A number of market failures have been associated with R&D investments and significant amounts of public money have been spent on programs to stimulate innovative activities In this paper, we review some recent microeconometric studies evaluating effects of government-sponsored commercial R&D We pay particular attention to the conceptual problems involved Neither the firms receiving support, nor those not applying, constitute random samples Furthermore, those not receiving support may be affected by the programs due to spillover effects which often are the main justification for R&D subsidies Constructing a valid control group under these circumstances is challenging, and we relate our discussion to recent advances in econometric methods for evaluation studies based on non-experimental data We also discuss some analytical questions, beyond these estimation problems, that need to be addressed in order to assess whether R&D support schemes can be justified For instance, what are the implications of firms' R&D investments being complementary to each other, and to what extent are potential R&D spillovers internalized in the market?

Do Subsidies to Commercial R&D Reduce Market Failures - Microeconomic Evaluation Studies?

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w6947/w6947.pdf

Do subsidies to commercial R&D reduce market failures? Microeconometric evaluation studies

Labor mobility is considered to be an important source of knowledge externalities, making it difficult for firms to appropriate returns to research and development (R&D). Interfirm transfers of knowledge embodied in people should be analyzed within a human capital framework. Testing such a framework, I find that the technical staff in R&D‐intensive firms pays for the knowledge they accumulate on the job through lower wages early in their career. They later earn a return on these implicit investments through higher wages. This suggests that the potential externalities associated with labor mobility are, at least partially, internalized in the labor market.

/pdf/is-mobility-of-technical-personnel-a-source-of-r-d-4rhj0en4ez.pdf

Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?

A number of market failures have been associated with R&D investments and significant amounts of public money have been spent on programs to stimulate innovative activities. In this paper, we review some recent microeconomic studies evaluating effects of government sponsored commercial R&D. We pay particular attention to the conceptual problems involved. Neither the firms receiving support, nor those not applying, constitute random samples. Furthermore, those not receiving support may be affected by the programs due to spillover effects which often are a main justification for R&D subsidies. Constructing a valid control group under these circumstances is challenging, and we relate our discussion to recent advances in econometric methods for evaluation studies based on non-experimental data. We also discuss some analytical questions that need to be addressed in order to assess whether R&D support schemes can be justified. For instance, what are the implication of firms' R&D investments being complementary to each other, and to what extent are potential R&D spillovers internalized in the market?

Do Subsidies to Commercial R&D Reduce Market Failures? Microeconomic Evaluation Studies

We analyze short and long-term effects of worker displacement. Our sample consists of male workers displaced from Norwegian manufacturing plants. We find that displacement increases the probability of leaving the labor force by 31%. The drop-out rate from the labor force is particularly high in the first years following displacement. The average earnings effects for those who remain in the labor force are moderate, a 3% loss relative to non-displaced workers after seven years. Splitting displaced workers on within- and between-firm movers, we find that the estimated earnings loss is entirely driven by between-firm movers who experience a 3.6% loss. Transfers to other plants within multi-plant firms upon displacement are quite common. Our results support the view that human capital is partly firm specific and partly industry specific. We find no evidence suggesting that human capital is plant specific.

/pdf/how-destructive-is-creative-destruction-effects-of-job-loss-44ymt666pw.pdf

Jarle Møen

Papers

Do Subsidies to Commercial R&D Reduce Market Failures - Microeconomic Evaluation Studies?

Do subsidies to commercial R&D reduce market failures? Microeconometric evaluation studies

Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?

Do Subsidies to Commercial R&D Reduce Market Failures? Microeconomic Evaluation Studies

How destructive is creative destruction? effects of job loss on job mobility, withdrawal and income