Scientific Council for Government Policy

About: Scientific Council for Government Policy is a government organization based out in The Hague, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Land use & Public policy. The organization has 66 authors who have published 99 publications receiving 2680 citations. The organization is also known as: WRR & Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid.

The roles of R&D in new firm growth

Abstract: Innovative start-ups are an important driver of economic growth. This article presents empirical evidence on the effects of research and development (R&D) on new product development, interfirm alliances and employment growth during the early life course of firms. We use a dataset that contains a sample of new firms that is representative of the whole population of start-ups. This dataset covers the first 6 years of the life course of firms. It is revealed that R&D plays several roles during the early life course of high-tech as well as high-growth firms. The effect of initial R&D on high-tech firm growth is through increasing levels of interfirm alliances in the first post-entry years. R&D efforts enable the exploitation of external knowledge. Initial R&D also stimulates new product development later on in the life course of high-tech firms, but this does not seem to affect firm growth. R&D does not affect the growth rate of new low-tech firms, which seem to be driven mainly by the growth ambitions of the founding entrepreneur. The results show that R&D matters for a limited but important set of new high-tech and high-growth firms, which are key in innovation and entrepreneurship policies.

The New Digital Borders of Europe: EU Databases and the Surveillance of Irregular Migrants

Abstract: This article analyses the development of three EU migration databases and their significance for the internal control of irregular migrants. Because bor- ders and immigration policy alone cannot stop irregular migration, many govern- ments turn to internal migration control on settled irregular migrants. Surveillance of this group is aimed at their exclusion from key societal institutions, discourag- ing their stay and ultimately, the deportation of apprehended irregular migrants. These are policies in which identification of irregular migrants is crucial. In this age, registration and identification mean computerized and networked data- bases. The member states of the EU are currently developing a network of data- bases in the field of (irregular) immigration. The Schengen Information System (II), the Eurodac database and the Visa Information System are vast databases, often including biometric data, aimed at controlling migration flows and identi- fying and sorting legal and irregular migrants. These systems are able to 're-identify' parts of the population of irregular migrants on the basis of digital traces of their migration history. It is argued that the digital infrastructure that is now growing past its infancy is developing into a formidable tool for the surveillance of irreg- ular migrants in Europe.

The Fight Against Illegal Migration Identification Policies and Immigrants' Counterstrategies

Abstract: In recent years, northern European Union (EU) member states have intensified internal surveillance on irregular migrants. Policy innovation has been geared to controlling, identifying, and even reidentifying irregular migrants who settled within their borders. Policy aims are deterrence, exclusion, and, ultimately, expulsion. Developments in labor market, detention, and expulsion policies and surveillance by the EU immigration database are analyzed in relation to the counterstrategies that irregular migrants devise to escape detection and expulsion by the state. The resulting cat and mouse game between the state and irregular migrants seems to result in a serious threat to irregular migrants' room to maneuver and further increases their dependence on informal, and increasingly criminal, networks and institutions.