The Circulation of Ideas in Firms and Markets

Novel early stage ideas face uncertainty on the expertise needed to elaborate them, which creates a need to circulate them widely to find a match. Yet as information is not excludable, shared ideas may be stolen, reducing incentives to innovate. Still, in idea-rich environments inventors may share them without contractual protection. Idea density is enhanced by firms ensuring rewards to inventors, while their legal boundaries limit idea leakage. As firms limit idea circulation, the innovative environment involves a symbiotic interaction: firms incubate ideas and allow employees to leave if they cannot find an internal fit; markets allow for wide circulation of ideas until matched and completed; under certain circumstances ideas may be even developed in both firms and markets.Ideas, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Firm Organization, Start-Ups

Conservation efforts concerning native bee species of Michigan

Bee species all over the world are declining at concerning rates. However, it is good to see the public rallying behind the “save the bees!” movement even though most efforts from this movement have been on the conservation of the European honeybees. This is because most people often associate the honeybee, which is only one of 20,000 known bee species in the world, to all other bees. Therefore, conservation efforts should be broadened and aimed towards the many native bee species that can be found locally in North America. In the state of Michigan, there are over 450 species, and conservation for these species is most effectively catalyzed by education and outreach, which can bring awareness to these native bee species. What resulted from these concerns over native bees is the creation of a pollinator garden intended for education of native bees at Albion College’s Whitehouse Nature Center in Albion, Michigan

Banks as catalysts for industrialization

We provide a theoretical framework to address the historical debate about the role of banks in industrialization. We introduce banks into a model of the big push to examine under what circumstances profit-motivated banks would engage in coordination of investments. We show that banks may act as 'catalysts' for industrialization provided that: (i) they are sufficiently large to mobilize a 'critical mass' of firms, and (ii) they possess sufficient market power to make profits from coordination. Our model also shows that universal banking helps reduce endogenously derived coordination costs. Our results delineate the strengths and limits of Gershenkron's (1962) view of banks in economic development, and help explain a diverse set of historical experiences. We examine both countries where banks were associated with industrialization, showing that our theoretical conditions holds, as well as countries where the failure to industrialize can be related at least in part to the absence of our necessary conditions

Neutralizing the Stratagem of “Snap Removal”: A Proposed Amendment to the Judicial Code

The “Removal Jurisdiction Clarification Act” is a narrowly tailored legislative proposal designed to resolve a widespread conflict in the federal district courts over the proper interpretation of the statutory “forum-defendant” rule. The forum-defendant rule prohibits removal of a diversity case “if any of the parties in interest properly joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the [forum state].” 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2) (emphasis added). Some courts, following the “plain language” of the statute, hold that defendants can avoid the constraints of the rule by removing diversity cases to federal court when a citizen of the forum state has been joined as a defendant but has not yet been served. This stratagem has been referred to as “snap removal.” Other courts reject the stratagem. They take a “purposive” approach, typically reasoning that following the plain language “produces a result that is at clear odds with congressional intent.” Resolution of the conflict can come only from Congress. The preferable resolution is to neutralize the stratagem of snap removal by requiring district courts to remand cases to the appropriate state court if, after removal, the plaintiff timely serves one or more forum defendants and a timely motion to remand follows. That is the approach taken by the proposed legislation. The legislation also would confirm that the forum-defendant rule is not jurisdictional, endorsing the position taken by all but one of the circuits that have considered the question

From start-up to scale-up: examining public policies for the financing of high-growth ventures. Bruegel Working Paper 04 / 2017

We examine the challenge entrepreneurial companies face in going beyond the start-up phase and growing into large successful companies. We examine the long-term financing of these so-called scale-up companies, focusing on the United States, Europe and Canada. We first provide a conceptual framework for understanding the challenges of financing scale-ups. We then show some data about the various aspects of financing scale-ups in the US, Europe and Canada. Finally we raise the question of long-term public policies to support the creation of a better scale-up environment

Reclaiming Control over Personal Data with Blockchain Technology: An Exploratory Study

With the digitalization and increasing number of Internet users, more and more personal data breaches occur. Many people are not aware of their personal data rights and have not received any instructions on how to act in situations such as when their personal data is abused. This is something that illustrates the flaws of the Internet. A technology that provides solutions to some of these problems, such as trust and transparency, is the blockchain technology. Hence, the objective of this paper is to investigate knowledge about personal data rights and to explore the design of a prototype of a blockchain application for increased security and transparency. User tests were conducted, highlighting the greatest needs for users to feel secure and in control over their personal data. This knowledge provide the foundation for a prototype based on blockchain technology that gives the users increased security and forces those who store personal data to be more transparent with the usage

Organic Reactions in the Gas Phase. I. The Thermal Rearrangement of 3, 3-Dimethylcyclopropene. II. Interaction of Remote Functional Groups in the Ion Chemistry of Bifunctional Ethers

PART I: The Thermal Rearrangement of 3, 3-Dimethylcyclopropene The thermal rearrangement of 3, 3-dimethylcyclopropene was investigated by entering the energy surface for the reaction by two routes: thermal isomerization of the cyclopropene and pyrolysis of a diazo compound precursor, 3-methyl-1-diazo-2-butene. The products from both reactions are identical; however the proportions vary greatly. Greater than 95% of the product from the diazo compound is the cyclopropene, and the remainder of the product is isoprene and isopropylacetylene in a 5:2 ratio, with trace gem-dimethyl­allene. The products from isomerization of the cyclopropene are isopropylacetylene, isoprene, and gem-dimethylallene in a ratio of 500:50:1. From these data it is concluded that two intermediates exist for the isomerization, gem-dimethylvinylcarbene, (CH3)2C=CH CH, and a 90° rotamer, designated as a diradical, (CH3)2ĊCH=ĊH. Relative rates of interconversion and cyclization and an energy surface are determined and the results are compared with Huckel and CNDO/2 calculations on vinylcarbene. PART II. Interaction of Remote Functional Groups in the Ion Chemistry of Bifunctional Ethers An Ion Cyclotron Resonance examination of bifunctional ethers of the form CH3O(CH2)nOR, where n = 1 - 6 and R = H, CH3, or C2H5, reveals a large number of mass spectral processes and ion-molecule reactions in which the interaction of remote functional groups plays a prominent role. Chainlength effects are particularly pronounced: 6-member cyclic intermediates are inf erred in rarrangements of odd­ electron species, while larger cycles appear pref erred in rearrange­ments of many even electron species.</p

Electric resistivity and seismic refraction tomography: a challenging joint underwater survey at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory

Tunnelling below water passages is a challenging task in terms of planning, pre-investigation and construction. Fracture zones in the underlying bedrock lead to low rock quality and thus reduced stability. For natural reasons, they tend to be more frequent at water passages. Ground investigations that provide information on the subsurface are necessary prior to the construction phase, but these can be logistically difficult. Geophysics can help close the gaps between local point information by producing subsurface images. An approach that combines seismic refraction tomography and electrical resistivity tomography has been tested at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL). The aim was to detect fracture zones in a well-known but logistically challenging area from a measuring perspective. The presented surveys cover a water passage along part of a tunnel that connects surface facilities with an underground test laboratory. The tunnel is approximately 100 m below and 20 m east of the survey line and gives evidence for one major and several minor fracture zones. The geological and general test site conditions, e.g. with strong power line noise from the nearby nuclear power plant, are challenging for geophysical measurements. Co-located positions for seismic and ERT sensors and source positions are used on the 450 m underwater section of the 700 m profile. Because of a large transition zone that appeared in the ERT result and the missing coverage of the seismic data, fracture zones at the southern and northern parts of the underwater passage cannot be detected by separated inversion. Synthetic studies show that significant three-dimensional (3-D) artefacts occur in the ERT model that even exceed the positioning errors of underwater electrodes. The model coverage is closely connected to the resolution and can be used to display the model uncertainty by introducing thresholds to fade-out regions of medium and low resolution. A structural coupling cooperative inversion approach is able to image the northern fracture zone successfully. In addition, previously unknown sedimentary deposits with a significantly large thickness are detected in the otherwise unusually well-documented geological environment. The results significantly improve the imaging of some geologic features, which would have been undetected or misinterpreted otherwise, and combines the images by means of cluster analysis into a conceptual subsurface model

In fear of a reversal back to the spirits drinking era – the 2004 decrease of Finnish alcohol taxes in public discourse

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