Economic growth and technological change in the long run:a survey of theoretical and empirical literature

This paper introduces a general, formal treatment of dynamic constraints, i.e., constraints on the state changes that are allowed in a given state space. Such dynamic constraints can be seen as representations of "real world" constraints in a managerial context. The notions of transition, reversible and irreversible transition, and transition relation will be introduced. The link with Kripke models (for modal logics) is also made explicit. Several (subtle) examples of dynamic constraints will be given. Some important classes of dynamic constraints in a database context will be identified, e.g. various forms of cumulativity, non-decreasing values, constraints on initial and final values, life cycles, changing life cycles, and transition and constant dependencies. Several properties of these dependencies will be treated. For instance, it turns out that functional dependencies can be considered as "degenerated" transition dependencies. Also, the distinction between primary keys and alternate keys is reexamined, from a dynamic point of view.

The location of R&D in the Netherlands: trends, determinants and policy

Many factors determine the location of business R&D projects, the most important being history, the supply of R&D labour, and the quality of the public knowledge infrastructure (including the science-industry knowledge transfer). The set of R&D locations in the Netherlands changes little over time. But two things do change regularly: the size of the R&D activities at a particular site and the name and nationality of the owner of an R&D site. The Netherlands takes an average or higher position in a ranking of OECD countries according to attractiveness to the location of business R&D. Since domestic R&D is an important engine for domestic economic growth and since the market fails to provide optimal incentives for R&D, there is scope for government policy that improves upon the R&D location climate. Yet, this policy rationale does not necessarily imply that R&D policy initiatives are always effective and efficient: elasticities and social (opportunity) costs should be taken into account.

The role of R&D and patent activity in economic growth: some empirical evidence

This paper explains growth of labour productivity through (inter)national spillovers from R&D and patenting. We develop a formal model that is tested for Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America using a new set of panel data. The results indicate that, for the period 1957 until 1991, domestic R&D has an indirect and positive impact on productivity growth for the economy as a whole via technological catch up. For the period 1974–1991 we only find such a postive effect for French manufacturing.

Do technology spillovers matter for growth?

This paper attempts to explain the growth of labour productivity by (inter)national spillovers from R&D and patenting. We develop a model that is tested for Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America using a new set of panel data for the period 1955 until 1991. The results indicate that domestic R&D has an indirect and, for Germany, a positive impact on productivity growth.

Economic growth and technological change in the long run : a survey of theoretical and empirical literature

This paper introduces a general, formal treatment of dynamic constraints, i.e., constraints on the state changes that are allowed in a given state space. Such dynamic constraints can be seen as representations of "real world" constraints in a managerial context. The notions of transition, reversible and irreversible transition, and transition relation will be introduced. The link with Kripke models (for modal logics) is also made explicit. Several (subtle) examples of dynamic constraints will be given. Some important classes of dynamic constraints in a database context will be identified, e.g. various forms of cumulativity, non-decreasing values, constraints on initial and final values, life cycles, changing life cycles, and transition and constant dependencies. Several properties of these dependencies will be treated. For instance, it turns out that functional dependencies can be considered as "degenerated" transition dependencies. Also, the distinction between primary keys and alternate keys is reexamined, from a dynamic point of view.

The role of R&D and patent activity in economic growth:some empirical evidence

This paper explains growth of labour productivity through (inter)national spillovers from R&D and patenting. We develop a formal model that is teste

‘Excellentie voor Productiviteit?’

This report surveys the recent literature on human capital and productivity. Recent studies suggest that the right-hand side of the skill distribution is important for productivity, especially in countries that already have a high level of productivity. An empirical analysis of the Dutch skill distribution reveals that the Netherlands is not positioned among the best-performing countries at the right-hand side of the distribution. On average, the Dutch skill level is high, but this level is mainly based on the relatively high skill level at the left-hand side of the skill distribution. The Dutch position declines when moving to the right-hand side. At the very highest skill level, the Netherlands is not among the best of the world. This is true for both secondary education and higher education. The Dutch share of graduates from higher education is also not among the highest in the OECD. The findings on the skill distribution are robust for several skill surveys, age groups and over time. This robustness may be the result of the structure of the Dutch educational system. The findings indicate that there is scope for improvement of skills at the right-hand side of the distribution. Therefore, policies that raise the Dutch performance at high- and top skill levels in higher education or in earlier stages of education may improve Dutch productivity. Further research is needed to assess these policies.

Scarcity of science and engineering students in the Netherlands

In this report, we investigate whether policies that stimulate enrolment in S&E-studies are effective at increasing R&D-activity. Scarcity of science and engineering (S&E) graduates could potentially call for government intervention, because of the role of S&E's in R&D, and because R&D in turn is characterised by positive spillovers. First, we analyse the situation on the Dutch labour market for S&E graduates. We do not find evidence for scarcity of S&E graduates. Rather, the labour market position vis-à-vis other graduates weakened. A possible explanation to reconcile this conclusion with a widely felt concern of S&E shortages among employers is increasing internationalisation of the S&E labour market. Concerning policy, we argue that expanding the stock of S&E graduates is not very effective for boosting R&D activity. More than half the number of S&E graduates do not end up working in R&D. De increasing internationalisation of the S&E labour market can diminish the attractiveness of S&E courses.