Social Capital, R&D and Industrial Districts

The main idea behind this paper is that social capital is not, as generally suggested by the socio-economic literature, an individual attitude towards something which does not imply privately appropriable economic benefits. Actually, SC might and should be interpreted as a public component of an investment which implies private and public benefits entangled with each other. In order to put forward this idea, a dynamic theoretical model that assumes social capital as the public component of the impure public good R&D is developed. It shows that the ‘civic culture’ of the district area in which the firm works is not sufficient as an incentive to increase its investment in social capital, because this investment strictly depends on the economic convenience of investing in the impure public good. Social capital /networking dynamics might positively and complementarily evolve only if the opportunity cost of investing in innovation is sufficiently low. We consequently focus our attention on a specialized industrial district located in the Emilia Romagna region – the biomedical district of Mirandola (Modena) – characterised by a strong pattern of innovative activity. Using a proxy for innovative activity as dependant variable, we observe that R&D and networking/social capital arise as complementary driving forces for innovation outputs. When empirical evidence confirms that this complementarity plays a key role, and consequently strong links exist between market and non-market dynamics relating to firms, the role for policy actions targeted to social capital is larger. The policy effort should be targeted toward both market and non-market characteristics taken together, rather than solely to the production of (local) public goods (social capital) or innovation inputs as independent elements of firm processes. The input of SC alone is not sufficient to ensure innovation and growth: economic incentives matter. On the other hand, whenever SC dynamics are crucial for R&D private investments, the effect of economic incentives depends on the presence and degree of their complementarity.Social capital, R&D, Technological innovation, Industrial districts

Rebuilding the Post-Pandemic Economy

After suffering the worst economic shock since the Great Depression, the American economy is recovering in fits and starts. While many businesses are reopening their doors and thriving, continued uncertainty about the course of the virus, the inflation outlook, labor shortages, and many other factors are hampering a full return to normal activity. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced and exacerbated many of the biggest structural economic challenges in our society. It precipitated the largest economic relief and stimulus spending in US history and transformed the way that millions of Americans live and work, with automation, e-commerce, and telework all playing a bigger role.The policy volume Rebuilding the Post Pandemic Economy examines important questions about how the post-pandemic economy will take shape. What are some initial lessons we can take away from the novel government programs that were deployed to provide economic relief and stimulus? How can we implement new infrastructure investments to maximize efficiency and equity, and best respond to the climate crisis? After a year of widespread school closures, what have we learned about the role of K-12 education in perpetuating or reducing social and economic inequities? And how should American trade policies evolve to promote economic recovery and strengthen America's role in the global economy

Managing Intellectual Property to Foster Agricultural Development

Over the past decades, consideration of IPRs has become increasingly important in many areas of agricultural development, including foreign direct investment, technology transfer, trade, investment in innovation, access to genetic resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge. The widening role of IPRs in governing the ownership of—and access to—innovation, information, and knowledge makes them particularly critical in ensuring that developing countries benefit from the introduction of new technologies that could radically alter the welfare of the poor. Failing to improve IPR policies and practices to support the needs of developing countries will eliminate significant development opportunities. The discussion in this note moves away from policy prescriptions to focus on investments to improve how IPRs are used in practice in agricultural development. These investments must be seen as complementary to other investments in agricultural development. IPRs are woven into the context of innovation and R&D. They can enable entrepreneurship and allow the leveraging of private resources for resolving the problems of poverty. Conversely, IPRs issues can delay important scientific advancements, deter investment in products for the poor, and impose crippling transaction costs on organizations if the wrong tools are used or tools are badly applied. The central benefit of pursuing the investments outlined in this note is to build into the system a more robust capacity for strategic and flexible use of IPRs tailored to development goals

New perspectives on regulation

166 p. ; 23 cm.Libro ElectrónicoNew regulation shouldn’t rely on old ideas. “Since the 1960s, influential research on government failure helped to drive the movement for deregulation and privatization. Yet even as the study of government failure was flourishing, some very different ideas were sprouting in the social sciences with profound implications for our understanding of human behavior and the role of government. Some of these ideas, particularly from the field of behavioral economics, have begun to nudge their way into discussions of regulatory purpose, design, and implementation. Yet even here, the process is far from complete; and many other exciting new lines of research—on everything from social cooperation to co-regulation—have hardly been incorporated at all. Now that many lawmakers and their constituents have apparently concluded that the earlier focus on government failure went too far, it is imperative that they be able to draw on the very latest academic work in thinking anew about the role of government. This, at root, is the purpose of this book: to make the newest and most important research accessible to a broad audience.” —From the IntroductionPreface - Mitchell WeissIntroduction - David Moss and John CisterninoChapter 1 Regulation and Failure - Joseph StiglitzChapter 2 The Case for Behaviorally Informed Regulation - Michael S. Barr, Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar ShafirChapter 3 From Greenspan’s Despair to Obama’s Hope: The Scientific Basis of Cooperation as Principles of Regulation - Yochai BenklerChapter 4 Government as Risk Manager - Tom Baker and David MossChapter 5 Toward a Culture of Persistent Regulatory Experimentation and Evaluation - Michael GreenstoneChapter 6 The Promise and Pitfalls of Co-regulation: How Governments Can Draw on Private Governance for Public Purpose - Edward J. Balleisen and Marc EisnerChapter 7 The Principles of Embedded Liberalism: Social Legitimacy and Global Capitalism - Rawi Abdelal and John G. RuggieAcknowledgment

How adaptation changes the climate game : climate change regimes in a non-cooperative, asymmetric world

The history of the UNFCCC climate negotiations over the past 20 years has shown how difficult it is to reach an international climate agreement that is both legally binding and environmentally effective enough to ensure that humankind can avoid the worst consequences projected from climate change. Some experts even see the world drifting towards a 4°C mean temperature rise. It is therefore necessary to start exploring what future, non-cooperative climate change regimes might be expected to look like. One immediate consequence is that adaptation to climate change has become increasingly relevant; on a humanitarian, political, economic and the scientific level. The economic incentive structure of adaptation is different and, actually, more favourable than that of mitigation, with respect to both their inter- and intratemporal externalities. The ability to adapt makes a higher level of climate change tolerable. Furthermore, my research shows that adaptation empowers the poor to develop and to enforce a more equitable use of the atmospheric carbon sink; it may potentially also lead to an overall reduction of carbon emissions. Ultimately, it turns out that even in a non-cooperative, asymmetric world, there are prospects for clean technology transfer and adaptation funding. Drawing on the AK growth model with climate change developed by Buckle (2009a,b), the aim of this work is (i) to create a tractable, transparent economic growth model that includes climate damages and emissions abatement, (ii) to develop an adequate analytical representation of adaptation, and (iii) to analyze with the help of game-theoretic methods how the option to undertake adaptation affects the strategic nature of climate negotiations and, in particular, the outcome under a non-cooperative climate change regime

Int j acctg

Title from cover.Published: Springer, 1995; Greenwich, Conn. : JAI Press, 1996-2000; New York, N.Y. : Pergamon, 2000-Latest issue consulted: Vol. 37, no. 2 (2002) (surrogate).Published for: Center for International Education and Research in Accounting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0020706

Saving and Investment in the Twenty-First Century

The economy of the 21st century in the OECD countries and in China, is characterized by a new phenomenon: the structural surplus of private savings in relation to private investment. This is true even in a situation of prosperity and very low interest rates. On the one hand, this excess saving is due to people's increasing inclination to save in light of rising life expectancy, driven by the desire to have sufficient assets in old age. On the other hand, the demand for capital is not increasing to the same extent, so that investment is not keeping pace with the rising desire to save. The resulting gap between the private desire for wealth and private investment can only be closed by increasing public debt. This open access book offers a new, capital-theoretical perspective on the macroeconomic relationship between desired wealth and investment, and it presents new empirical data on private wealth and its composition in the OECD plus China area. The authors argue that a free economic and social order can only be stabilized if the wealth aspirations of individuals are met under conditions of price stability. This is not possible without substantial net public debt. A new way of thinking about the economy as a whole is required. By way of an in-depth theoretical and empirical analysis, the book demonstrates this new way of thinking and describes the current challenges facing economic policy. It will appeal to economists and students of economics who are interested in macroeconomic theory and its economic policy implications. An impressive, and convincing theoretical dive into the fundamentals behind secular stagnation, with very strong implications for actual debt policy. Public debt may be needed to improve welfare. - Olivier Blanchard, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Professor of Economics Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund from 2008 to 2015. Saving and Investment in the Twenty-First Century gives a wholly new perspective on macroeconomics. (...) Weiz­säcker and Krämer describe a simple, practical solution to the underemployment that has plagued Southern Europe for more than a decade. - George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001. Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. This is a profound and original contribution that can help us to understand and act on the great issues of our times. - Nicholas Stern, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. Author of the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change. Chief Economist at the World Bank from 2000 to 2003

Overcoming the systemic challenges of retrofitting residential buildings in the United Kingdom. A Herculean task?

Policy initiatives in the UK, such as the Green Deal, have sought and failed to achieve the mass uptake of comprehensive residential retrofit. This chapter argues that previous policies have failed to address four interrelated challenges that constrain consumer demand. Thus, we focus on solutions to address these challenges from three key perspectives: business models, finance mechanisms and intermediaries. We first identify the systemic challenges for whole house retrofit and argue that a more comprehensive and wide-reaching policy strategy will be needed to overcome these challenges. This will require consistent and ambitious policy targets, and the creation or support of new finance mechanisms, business models and dedicated intermediary actors to support policy implementation

Of emergence, diffusion and impact: a sociotechnical perspective on research and energy demand

From a sociotechnical perspective, improving energy efficiency and reducing energy demand are understood as social processes with complex interactions between multiple actors (firms, researchers, policymakers, consumers) who develop strategies, make investments, learn, open up new markets and develop new routines. A sociotechnical perspective views energy services as being provided through large-scale, capital-intensive and long-lived infrastructures that co-evolve with technologies, institutions, skills, knowledge and behaviours to create broader ‘sociotechnical systems’. This chapter develops a rationale for the sociotechnical approach, describes its general characteristics and identifies some core research debates. It elaborates upon three research themes – emergence, diffusion and impact – and identifies key issues and debates within each

Introduction: new directions in energy demand research

Meeting the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement and limiting global temperature increases to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels demands rapid reductions in global carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing energy demand has a central role in achieving this goal, but existing policy initiatives have been largely incremental in terms of the technological and behavioural changes they encourage. Against this background, this book develops a sociotechnical approach to the challenge of reducing energy demand and illustrates this with a number of empirical case studies from the United Kingdom. In doing so, it explores the emergence, diffusion and impact of low-energy innovations. This chapter introduces the main themes of the book, including explorations of the processes and mechanisms through which different types of innovations become (or fail to become) established, the identification of the role of different groups, assessments of the resulting impacts on energy demand and other social goals, and the development of recommendations for both encouraging the diffusion of such innovations and maximising their long-term impact