A system failure framework for innovation policy design

This article sets out a policy framework for implementing ‘system of innovation’ (SI)-based strategies. On the basis of a literature review on system failures, the study designs an SI-policy framework that can provide policy makers with practical leads how to design, analyse and evaluate policy measures in the field of innovation. The functioning of the framework is illustrated on the basis of an evaluation of Dutch cluster policy. From this illustration, it can be concluded that the SI-framework provides helpful leads for policy design and evaluation and renders more specific policy recommendations than the generally used market failure approach

The Trade-Off between Foreign Direct Investments and Exports: The Role of Multiple Dimensions of Distance

To serve foreign markets, firms can either export or set up a local subsidiary through horizontal Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The conventional proximity-concentration theory suggests that FDI substitutes for trade if distance between countries is large, while exports become more important if scale economies in production are large. This paper investigates empirically the effect of different dimensions of distance on the choice between exports and FDI. We find that different dimensions of distance affect exports and FDI differently. There is clear evidence of a proximity-concentration trade-off in geographical terms: the share of FDI sales in total foreign sales (exports and FDI sales) increases with geographical distance. The positive relation between import tariffs and FDI intensity provides further evidence for a trade-off resulting from trade costs. On the other hand, the share of FDI decreases with language differences and cultural and institutional barriers. The latter dimensions of distance thus affect FDI more strongly than exports.cultural distance, institutions, FDI and trade, spatial interaction models

Identifying labour market bottlenecks in the energy transition: A combined IO-matching analysis

This paper combines an input-output model and a novel regional labour market matching model in order to identify potential bottlenecks in regional labour markets resulting from shocks in demand caused by the energy transition. Identifying these bottlenecks provides relevant information for policymakers to determine in which regions and industries policy intervention in labour markets may be needed to ensure a smooth transformation. We analyse the effects of a shock that is illustrative for the energy transition in the Netherlands. Our results indicate that the aim of the Dutch government to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions may, at least in the short run, be hampered by bottlenecks in labour markets

The Influence of Formal Features in Popular Film on Audience Empathy

Over the past two decades, empathy, or the social-cognitive process of vicariously understanding the content of the minds of others, has been a frequent topic of discussion and research among neuroscientists and psychologists as an essential aspect of our healthy and successful social functioning (Lockwood, 2016). Similarly, researchers of narratives across media have come to stress the importance of empathy to narrative processes such as engagement, persuasion, comprehension, and enjoyment (Coplan, 2008; Green et al., 2002; Kneepkens & Zwaan, 1995; Plantinga, 2009). However, discussions on the importance of reader or viewer empathy in narrative studies tend to focus on viewer traits and story content, rather than on the formal or structural aspects of the narrative. Cognitive film scholars have long held that form influences viewer engagement, as narrative responses arise from the interplay between form and content (Bordwell, 1985). Recent empirical evidence demonstrating, for example, the influence of shot scale on viewer empathy (Rooney & Bálint, 2018) or the interplay between shot duration, shot scale, and narrative comprehension (Smith et al., 2012) are in line with the idea that the audiovisual format of the filmic medium can, in and of itself, impact cognitive processing and subsequent narrative response – including viewer empathy. Thus, this line of research can be said to follow turn-of-the-century efforts in communication research grounded in Lang’s limited capacity model (Lang, 2000) that aimed to elucidate the impact of form on message reception (Lang et al., 1999, 2000; Morgan et al., 2003; Stephenson & Palmgreen, 2001). These empirical forages into the effects of film form, however, have generally only considered a small subset of features in even fewer films, limiting the generalizability of the results to a wider range of film and curtailing a more comprehensive understanding of the link between form and viewer responses independent of story content. The goal of this study is to take a broad exploratory approach to the question of form and engagement, with empathy as the primary variable of interest. Empathy was chosen as key construct not only because of its previously established importance to various types of narrative engagement and narrative effects, but also because of its central role in wider social cognition and prosocial behaviour (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990; Van der Graaff et al., 2018)

Shaping Film: A Quantitative Formal Analysis of Contemporary Empathy-Eliciting Hollywood Cinema

Previous research suggests that particular formal features of film, such as the use of close-ups, can affect the levels of empathy experienced by viewers. Because empathy is a key aspect of the audience's filmic experience, creative decisions in editing and cinematography may be motivated by the filmmaker's intention of eliciting empathy. The goal of this study was to investigate what film scenes intended to elicit empathy look like in terms of those visual formal features theoretically or empirically linked to viewer empathy and whether these features converge on something that might be dubbed an empathic style of cinema. Formal features included concern shot scale, face depiction, cut rate, camera perspective and angle, saturation, lighting, motion, and background clutter. Exploratory quantitative formal analyses of scenes sampled from contemporary popular empathy-eliciting Hollywood films (N = 100) revealed that such scenes are, at first glance, highly dissimilar in form. Further investigation through principal component analysis and correlational analysis, however, hinted not so much at a singular empathic style of cinema as it did at certain general principles, namely, the reduction of perceived distance through close-ups and face depiction, the balancing of arousing features with comprehensible levels of visual complexity, and the prioritization of coherence and reduced visual contrast to enable a smooth viewing experience