Financing constraints, fixed capital and R&D investment decisions of belgian firms

This paper aims at assessing the relationship between the possible existence of financial constraints and the decisions of Belgian private firms as regards their investments in both capital and R&D investments over the last decade. The main system GMM estimates from the error-correction equations indicate that the sensitivity of both types of investments to cash flow variations are rather differentiated. On the whole, these effects are more important for investments in ordinary assets, young small-scale firms located in the Walloon region that are not part of a multinational. Firms that perform R&D on a permanent basis and that receive public funds to support these activities appear to be less cash constraints.financial constraints, investments in capital and R&D, Belgian private companies, error-correction investment equations, system GMM panel data econometric models

Young leading innovators and EUÂ?s R&D intensity gap

Innovation in the European Union remains weak and there are relatively few signs of progress. In this policy contribution, Reinhilde Veugelers and Michele Cincera give evidence to show that compared to the US, the EU has fewer young firms among its leading innovators and the primary driver of this private R&D gap is due to the fact that young leading innovators in the EU are less R&D intensive than their US counterparts. This paper complements the Bruegel policy brief, EuropeÂ?s missing yollies.

Impact of Market Entry and Exit on EU Productivity and Growth Performance

The European Union and its Member States have been engaged in product market reforms over a long period with notable reforms including the Single Market Program and the Lisbon Agenda launched in March 2000. Product market reforms are seen as exerting both a direct and an indirect impact on productivity, however, the net effects of the direct effect were found to be small. This study concentrates on the impact of product market reforms on firm entry and exit that can itself be decomposed into two effects: internal restructuring which refers to productivity growth of individual firms present in the industry and external restructuring whereby the process of market selection leads to a reallocation of resources among individual firms. The change in firm entry and exit will in turn affect macroeconomic performance.Market entry and exit, product market reforms, macroeconomic performance

DOMESTIC VERSUS INTERNATIONAL R&D SPILLOVERS AND PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE OF LARGE INTERNATIONAL FIRMS

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Impact of market entry and exit on EU productivity and growth performance

The European Union and its Member States have been engaged in product market reforms over a long period with notable reforms including the Single Market Program and the Lisbon Agenda launched in March 2000. Product market reforms are seen as exerting both a direct and an indirect impact on productivity, however, the net effects of the direct effect were found to be small. This study concentrates on the impact of product market reforms on firm entry and exit that can itself be decomposed into two effects: internal restructuring which refers to productivity growth of individual firms present in the industry and external restructuring whereby the process of market selection leads to a reallocation of resources among individual firms. The change in firm entry and exit will in turn affect macroeconomic performance.market entry, market exit, productivity, product market reform, performance growth, Cincera, Galgau

Efficiency of public spending in support of R&D activities

This study provides an empirical assessment of the level of efficiency of public R&D spending and public R&D support for private R&D. This study aims at assessing the level of efficiency of public R&D spending and public R&D support for private R&D and to compare efficiency scores among OECD countries, in particular EU Member states over the past two decades. The analysis rests on the concept of efficiency which is based on the relationship between public R&D spending and the additional R&D in the business sector induced by such measures.Public, private R&D, (determinants of) efficiency, framework conditions, SFA, DEA.

ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Belgium

This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The Country Report 2012 builds on and updates the 2011 edition. The report identifies the structural challenges of the national research and innovation system and assesses the match between the national priorities and the structural challenges, highlighting the latest developments, their dynamics and impact in the overall national context. They further analyse and assess the ability of the policy mix in place to consistently and efficiently tackle these challenges. These reports were originally produced in December 2012, focusing on policy developments over the previous twelve months. The reports were produced by independent experts under direct contract with IPTS. The analytical framework and the structure of the reports have been developed by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS) and Directorate General for Research and Innovation with contributions from external experts.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Which projects are selected for an innovation subsidy? The Portuguese case

Several empirical studies have analyzed which firm characteristics influence government evaluators in the decision to select specific firms to participate in Research and Develop- ment and Innovation subsidy programs. However, few authors have provided a precise analysis about the selection process of applications submitted for public support. The aim of the present article is to assess differences in investment project characteristics (expected impact) between firms with approved and non-approved applications and to understand which kinds of projects are selected for a subsidy. The analysis is focused on the case study of applications submitted to the Portuguese Innovation Incentive System (SI Innovation) between 2007 and 2013. The impact variables under study are those used in the selection procedure to grant the firm a subsidy, namely the expected impact on exports, value creation, productivity, patent application and qualified employment. Using a counterfactual analysis and Propensity Score Matching estimators, the results show that firms with approved applications are those that expect to invest more and forecast a higher increase in exports and productivity as the result of the investment project. However, these firms in comparison with the control group (those with non-approved applications) have investment projects with a lower contribution to growth and lower economic efficiency (return on investment in terms of productivity). The conclusions of this study could be useful for policy-makers since it provides evidence about firms’ strategic choice concerning investment projects submitted for an Innovation subsidy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

R&D Activities of Flemish Companies in the Private Sector: An Analysis for the period 1998-2002

The second chapter of this Study analyses the results of the last two surveys (2000 and 2002). These surveys cover a period of rapid expansion of R&D-activities in the Flemish economy. The BERD has grown on average with nearly 13% yearly between 1998 and 2001. The most important characteristic of Flemish business R&D is the very strong concentration of R&Dexpenditures in a few big firms (the top 5 stands for 63% of the expenditures of all permanent R&D players) and in a few sectors (66% in the chemical ICT sector). This concentration has been increasing even further during this period of expansion and re-inforced tendencies of outsourcing (up to 23%), the capital intensity of research, as well as in a shift from research to development (the latter from 70 tot 77%). Another characteristic is the predominance of foreign decision power: nearly 90% of R&D expenditures are performed in foreign controlled enterprises. But those firms are well integrated in the Flemish innovation system. R&D cooperations have been executed for the larger part (45%) with Flemish partners, and they receive the larger majority of R&D outsourcing. R&D is mostly product oriented (62%, vs. 24% process oriented); 56% of R&D actors have introduced new or technologically improved products and 40% new or technologically improved processes during 2000-2001.R&D activities private sector Flanders 3%

La congiunzione «e» come elemento introduttore nei titoli giornalistici

The purpose of this paper is to describe and in some ways to justify the very frequent use of the conjunction «e» at the beginning of italian newspaper headlines. Our observations are based on the analysis of four widely known contemporary Italian newspapers (using a corpus composed of 30 issues for each newspaper). An attempt is made to sketch a typology of the functions of this conjunction. The «e» can operate as a relational connector. The interpretation of its function depends on the analysis of cotext (in this case the established link is «endophotic») or of extralinguistic context (in this case the link is «exophoric»). On the other hand, the «e» can emphasize a particular element in the syntactic structure of the headline. Our study is oriented towards a didactic application in intermediate and advanced Italian language lessons. For this reason, in the final section of our paper we propose some examples of exercises