Knowledge spillovers, absorptive capacity and growth: an industry-level analysis for OECD countries

Given the decline in growth momentum in the manufacturing sector in many OECD countries, the role of knowledge-based capital has emerged as a key driver for sustained growth. While empirical studies on estimating knowledge spillovers have usually been undertaken at the country level, the spillover effects can be more definitive only if the analysis is conducted at the industry-level. The effectiveness of international spillovers is conditional on recipient country’s absorptive capacity and this is an important component of the spillover mechanism that has not attracted significant attention so far. This paper therefore assesses the effect of spillovers in driving per capita output growth taking into account the role of absorptive capacity. Our main findings are first, the confirmation of the robust positive relationship between human capital and output growth for 14 OECD countries at industry level. Second, the gains from international spillover are conditional to the level of human capital and the degree of protection of intellectual property rights. Third, countries that improve absorptive capacity can potentially increase gains from spillovers via either trade or FDI (including vertical FDI). Finally, significant heterogeneity is found between high and low-tech industries. The former group is more effective in absorbing spillovers while the latter has failed to reach the critical level of technological advancement in order to absorb foreign and domestic knowledge

Knowledge spillovers and output per worker: an industry-level analysis for OECD countries

This study analyzes the impact of knowledge spillovers on output per worker at the industry level using a primal production function approach. The article makes three different contributions to the international spillovers literature: (1) it identifies trade related spillovers under alternative assumptions regarding the information transferred through imports; (2) it explores the importance of horizontal and vertical foreign direct investment (FDI) in knowledge spillovers; and (3) it looks at how institutional factors determine the impact of FDI-related spillovers on productivity. The main findings of the study are: (1) international knowledge spillover is an important driver of industry output per worker, and the magnitude of this spillover effect varies with alternative assumptions about the information content embodied in imports, while high technology industries benefit significantly more from import-related knowledge spillovers; and (2) the gains from FDI spillovers are primarily horizontal, but when institutional factors are considered, countries with stronger protection of intellectual property rights and a high “ease of doing business” tend to experience a substantial increase in the effectiveness of both horizontal and vertical FDI-related spillover

The Hybrid Approach to Intervention of Chronic Total Occlusions

The "hybrid" approach to chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was developed to provide guidance on optimal crossing strategy selection. Dual angiography remains the cornerstone of clinical decision making in CTO PCI. Four angiographic parameters are assessed: (a) morphology of the proximal cap (clear-cut or ambiguous); (b) occlusion length; (c) distal vessel size and presence of bifurcations beyond the distal cap; and (d) location and suitability of location and suitability of a retrograde conduit (collateral channels or bypass grafts) for retrograde access. Antegrade wire escalation is favored for short (<20 mm) occlusions, usually escalating rapidly from a soft tapered-tip polymer-jacketed guidewire to a stiff polymer-jacketed or tapered-tip guidewire. Antegrade dissection/re-entry is favored in long (≥20 mm long) occlusions, trying to minimize the dissection length by re-entering into the distal true lumen immediately after the occlusion. Primary retrograde approach is preferred for lesions with an ambiguous proximal cap, poor distal target, good interventional collaterals, and heavy calcification,as well as chronic kidney disease. The "hybrid" approach advocates early change between strategies to enable CTO crossing in the most efficacious, efficient, and safe way. Several early studies are demonstrating high success and low complication rates with use of the "hybrid" approach, supporting its expanding use in CTO PCI

Change ΔS of the entropy in natural time under time reversal: Complexity measures upon change of scale

The entropy S in natural time as well as the entropy in natural time under time reversal $S_{-}$ have already found useful applications in the physics of complex systems, e.g., in the analysis of electrocardiograms (ECGs). Here, we focus on the complexity measures $\Lambda_l$ which result upon considering how the statistics of the time series $\Delta S\left[\equiv S- S_{-}\right]$ changes upon varying the scale l. These scale-specific measures are ratios of the standard deviations $\sigma(\Delta S_l)$ and hence independent of the mean value and the standard deviation of the data. They focus on the different dynamics that appear on different scales. For this reason, they can be considered complementary to other standard measures of heart rate variability in ECG, like SDNN, as well as other complexity measures already defined in natural time. An application to the analysis of ECG —when solely using NN intervals— is presented: We show how $\Lambda_l$ can be used to separate ECG of healthy individuals from those suffering from congestive heart failure and sudden cardiac death