Microgeography and the Direction of Inventive Activity

I provide novel empirical evidence grounded in an original theoretical framework to explain why colocation matters for the rate, direction, and quality of scientific collaboration. To address endogeneity concerns due to selection into colocation and matching, I exploit the constraints imposed on the spatial allocation of labs on the Jussieu campus of Paris by the removal of asbestos from its buildings. Consistent with search costs constituting a major friction to collaboration, colocation increases the likelihood of joint research by 3.5 times, an effect that is mostly driven by lab pairs that face higher search costs ex ante. Furthermore, separation does not negatively affect collaboration between previously colocated labs. However, while colocated labs grow increasingly similar in topics and literature cited, separated ones embark on less correlated research trajectories. Research outcomes, instead, seem to be mostly influenced by how distance affects execution costs: after colocation, labs are more likely to pursue both lower-quality projects (a selection effect) and high-quality projects (an effort effect). Opposite effects on quality are observed after separation. Whereas search costs affect which scientists are likely to collaborate together, execution costs shape the quality of their output. Keywords: colocation; idea recombination; collaboration; search costs; microgeography; low-opportunity cost tim

Intrinsic rewards increase job performance within an organization

Employee motivational programs consist of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. This project showed the impact the use of intrinsic reward systems had on employee feelings of satisfaction and increased performance. The study was conducted with an organization that supports developmentally disabled adults. The focus was to improve medication administration practices by decreasing the number of medication errors made by employees. The data utilized to conduct this study consisted of pre- and postintervention employee interviews, database information, and application of intrinsic approaches with employees. The conclusion showed that there was a significant decrease in errors after intrinsic management practices were implemented. The findings also revealed that an increase in teamwork and job satisfaction were additional positive results of the project

Estratificación de la información ambiental y construcción de bioindicadores: identificación de áreas prioritarias para la conservación de la biodiversidad.

Las regiones naturales de la provincia de Córdoba presentan diversos ecosistemas que están afectados por un constante deterioro ambiental siendo degradadas por la deforestación, el avance de la frontera agropecuaria, los incendios rurales, la introducción de plantas exóticas, el sobre-pastoreo, las sequías prolongadas, y el crecimiento urbano de las villas turísticas. La biodiversidad permite que los ecosistemas tengan mayor resiliencia ante cambios climáticos o antrópicos, siendo de suma importancia para mantener los servicios ecosistémicos. La experiencia adquirida por el equipo de trabajo del CREAN en el monitoreo de sitios pilotos a través del proyecto LADA/FAO mediante la metodología WOCAT, para la evaluación de la degradación de la tierra y los usos de la tierra sirve de antecedente tecnológico para encarar este proyecto multidisciplinario en red. El producto a obtener es una cartografía multicapa sobre los usos de la tierra (LUS), en la región de las Sierras Chicas de Córdoba en donde queden delimitadas las áreas naturales conservadas, las zonas explotadas con un uso sustentable, las áreas degradadas con procesos de desertificación, el estado de las cuencas proveedoras de agua a ríos y embalses, como así también las zonas urbanas y de explotaciones agropecuarias o mineras. Sobre la base de esta evaluación de bioindicadores y estratificación de la información ambiental se puede proveer de información a decisores sociales y políticos para que establezcan medidas que contribuyan a realizar acciones que protejan el ambiente, promuevan el manejo sustentable de las tierras y establezcan normativas para la conservación del suelo, el agua y la biodiversidad

Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding

It is not surprising that the financing of early-stage creative projects and ventures is typically geographically localized since these types of funding decisions are usually predicated on personal relationships and due diligence requiring face-to-face interactions in response to high levels of risk, uncertainty, and information asymmetry. So, to economists, the recent rise of crowdfunding - raising capital from many people through an online platform - which offers little opportunity for careful due diligence and involves not only friends and family but also many strangers from near and far, is initially startling. On the eve of launching equity-based crowdfunding, a new market for early-stage finance in the U.S., we provide a preliminary exploration of its underlying economics. We highlight the extent to which economic theory, in particular transaction costs, reputation, and market design, can explain the rise of non-equity crowdfunding and offer a framework for speculating on how equity-based crowdfunding may unfold. We conclude by articulating open questions related to how crowdfunding may affect social welfare and the rate and direction of innovation

Una mirada de lo educativo a partir de los discursos y prácticas pedagógicas sobre la condición humana en su unidad y diversidad : (o de esperanzas a partir de pedagogías que privilegian la narratividad)

Las incertidumbres y turbaciones vivenciadas a lo largo del siglo XX en torno a la condición humana, aparecen hoy en un renacer que nos deja nuevamente perplejos, preocupados: fundamentalismos raciales y religiosos, ideologías con una base ético-política que se levantan prohibiendo, persiguiendo; las ideas de Nietzsche sobre el "eterno retorno" se instalan en discursos y prácticas sociales; urge pensar modos de abordaje que nos provoquen un pensar crítico que opere sobre las realidades; que vaya más allá de meros análisis: al respecto dice Ricoeur pasar de una hermenéutica del texto a una de la acción. Las perspectivas sobre la educación que emergen a finales del siglo XX responden a demandas epistémicas que cuestionan algunos lugares del saber pedagógico dando espacio a la incertidumbre, y a la posibilidad de repensar cuestiones pasadas a la vera de reflexiones vigentes. La crítica de la modernidad, la consagración y el anuncio del fin de la posmodernidad, el surgimiento de renovadas propuestas humanistas, han conmovido el campo pedagógico con planteos provenientes de las ciencias sociales y humanas que irrumpen en un pensamiento crítico que se interroga acerca de la condición humana, la unidad y la diversidad, la esperanza de una educación encaminada hacia la utopía de un futuro mejor.Fil: Catalini, Sandra Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de San Luis.Fil: Perretti Matera, Carina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis.Fil: Gómez, Sergio Raúl. Universidad Nacional de San Luis

Slack Time and Innovation

The relationship between slack resources and innovation is complex, with the literature linking slack to both breakthrough innovations and resource misallocation. We reconcile these conflicting views by focusing on a novel mechanism: the role slack time plays in the endogenous allocation of time and effort to innovative projects. We develop a theoretical model that distinguishes between periods of high- (work weeks) versus low- (break weeks) opportunity costs of time. Low-opportunity cost time during break weeks may induce (1) lower quality ideas to be developed (a selection effect); (2) more effort to be applied for any given idea quality (an effort effect); and (3) an increase in the use of teams because scheduling is less constrained (a coordination effect). As a result, the effect of an increase in slack time on innovative outcomes is ambiguous, because the selection effect may induce more low-quality ideas, whereas the effort and coordination effect may lead to more high-quality, complex ideas. We test this framework using data on college breaks and on 165,410 Kickstarter projects across the United States. Consistent with our predictions, during university breaks, more projects are posted in the focal regions, and the increase is largest for projects of either very high or very low quality. Furthermore, projects posted during breaks are more complex, and involve larger teams with diverse skills. We discuss the implications for the design of policies on slack time

DEVELOPMENT OF COOLING SYSTEMS WITH ACTIVE ELASTOCALORIC REGENERATORS

The vapor compression cycle (VCC) has been developed and optimized over a century to provide cooling in residential and commercial buildings, and transport systems. However, its usage has resulted in unpredicted environmental damage such as depleting the ozone layer and promoting global warming when its refrigerant leaks into the atmosphere. Because of this, it is important to develop a superior technological alternative without the environmental costs. One way to tackle this problem is to develop heat pumping cycles using solid-state refrigerant since a solid is incapable of leaking into the atmosphere. However, a solid-refrigerant cannot flow to deliver cooling the same way a fluid-refrigerant does. This requires a system conceptual redesign, which started with near-room temperature cooling with magnetocaloric materials in 1976 and elastocaloric materials in 2012. In this work, four different system configurations were studied with the following objectives: 1) maximizing the system’s temperature lift and 2) measuring the cooling capacity as a function of the useful temperature lift of the system when operating as a water chiller. The first configuration was based on the thermowave heat recovery strategy, while the other three were based on a single stage, two-stage and reciprocating variants of the active regeneration cycle. From the studied configurations the thermowave-based cycle achieved a system’s temperature lift of 8 K, at large average strain of 4.5%. It produced a maximum useful temperature lift of 5 K and a maximum cooling capacity of 125 W. All active regeneration-based cycles achieved similar final results while the best results was a system’s temperature lift of 21.3 K at a low average strain of 3.5% and a maximum useful temperature lift of 6.5 K and a maximum cooling capacity between 16 W and 25 W. The advantage of the reciprocating system integration is that it can achieve these results at lower strain than the one- stage and two-stage configurations. This dissertation identified a fundamental limitation of the active regeneration cycles using single composition elastocaloric materials. It is due to the fact that the local strain is larger than the average strain where the temperature is lower, which limits the maximum applicable average strain to prevent premature failure. This directly affects both the temperature lift and cooling capacity of the system. Different alternatives to address this issue, as well as how to improve the overall thermal and structural performance of the system within the constraints of the materials commercially available are suggested

Intellectual property disclosure in standards development

Firms often collaborate to produce inter-operability standards so that independently designed products can work together. When this process takes place in a Standard Setting Organization (SSO), participants are typically required to disclose any intellectual property rights (IP) that would be infringed by a proposed standard, and asked for a commitment to license their essential IP on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. This paper describes the IP disclosure process, and provides an overview of a publicly available IP disclosure dataset that the authors have compiled using the archives of thirteen major SSOs. We use these new data to illustrate several major trends in standards development, and to show how "declared essential" patents differ from a random sample of patents of the same vintage covering similar technology

The Geography of Crowdfunding

Perhaps the most striking feature of "crowdfunding" is the broad geographic dispersion of investors in small, early-stage projects. This contrasts with existing theories that predict entrepreneurs and investors will be co-located due to distance-sensitive costs. We examine a crowdfunding setting that connects artist-entrepreneurs with investors over the internet for financing musical projects. The average distance between artists and investors is about 3,000 miles, suggesting a reduced role for spatial proximity. Still, distance does play a role. Within a single round of financing, local investors invest relatively early, and they appear less responsive to decisions by other investors. We show this geography effect is driven by investors who likely have a personal connection with the artist-entrepreneur ("family and friends"). Although the online platform seems to eliminate most distance-related economic frictions such as monitoring progress, providing input, and gathering information, it does not eliminate social-related frictions.