When do R&D subsidies boost innovation? Revisiting the inverted U-shape

We show theoretically that a proportional R&D subsidy accelerates innovation activity at all degrees of competition in the modern Schumpeterian growth model, but less so at high degrees of competition. We then use company-level data on patenting activity, product market competition and R&D subsidies of Finnish firms during 1990–2001 to test the theoretical prediction. The empirical findings can be summarized as follows. Firstly, we find relatively strong evidence in favour of the inverted U-shape between competition and innovation. Secondly, we find some evidence that a direct R&D subsidy increases innovative activity at all but very high degrees of competition. This can be interpreted so mean that the R&D subsidy reinforces the Schumpeterian effect due to the negative cross-effect of R&D subsidy and competition. This is evident from the finding that an increase in the R&D subsidy steepens the inverted U relationship when competition is fierce.competition; innovation; R&D subsidies; patents

Competition and Innovation - Microeconometric Evidence Using Finnish Data

In this study we provide a theoretical prediction of a complementary relationship between the incentive effects of product market competition and R&D subsidies using the theory of Aghion et. al (1997, 2001). The complementarity relationship and that of an inverted U-relationship is then tested using a large Finnish firm level data set combined with patent and patent citations of the firms. Econometric analysis shows that the inverted U-relationship is fairly robust to different innovation measures derived from patent data. We also find that the inverted-U relationship tends to be steeper when also R&D subsidies are considered. This result suggests that there exists a complementarity between competition and R&D subsidies.Product market competition, Innovations, R&D subsidies

Association of the World War II Finnish Evacuation of Children With Psychiatric Hospitalization in the Next Generation

Importance Although there is evidence that adverse childhood experiences are associated with worse mental health in adulthood, scarce evidence is available regarding an emerging concern that the next generation might also be affected. Objective To compare the risk of psychiatric hospitalization in cousins whose parents were vs were not exposed to the Finnish evacuation policy that involved a mean 2-year stay with a Swedish foster family. Design, Setting, and Participants This multigenerational, population-based cohort study of Finnish individuals and their siblings born between January 1, 1933, and December 31, 1944, analyzed the association of evacuee status as a child during World War II in the first generation with the risk of psychiatric hospitalization among offspring in the second generation. Evacuee status during World War II was determined using the Finnish National Archive’s registry of participants in the Finnish evacuation. Data on evacuee status were linked to the psychiatric diagnoses in the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register from January 1, 1971, through December 31, 2012, for offspring (n = 93 391) born between January 1, 1950, and December 31, 2010. Sex-specific Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios for risk of psychiatric hospitalization during the follow-up period. Because offspring of evacuees and their nonevacuated siblings are cousins, the Cox proportional hazards regression models included fixed effects to adjust for confounding factors in families. Data analysis was performed from June 15, 2016, to August 26, 2017. Exposures Parental participation in the evacuation during World War II (coded 1 for parents who were evacuated and placed in foster care and 0 for those not evacuated). Main Outcomes and Measures Offspring’s initial admission to the hospital for a psychiatric disorder, obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register from January 1, 1971, through December 31, 2012. Results Of the 93 391 study persons, 45 955 (49.2%) were women and 47 436 (50.8) were men; mean (SD) age in 2012 among survivors was 45.4 (6.58) years. Female offspring of mothers evacuated to Sweden during childhood had an elevated risk of psychiatric hospitalization (hazard ratio for any type of psychiatric disorder: 2.04 [95% CI, 1.04-4.01]; hazard ratio for mood disorder: 4.68 [95% CI, 1.92-11.42]). There was no excess risk of being hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder among women whose fathers were exposed to the Finnish evacuation policy during World War II or among men whose mothers or fathers were exposed. Conclusions and Relevance In a prior follow-up study of the Finnish evacuees, girls evacuated to Swedish foster families during World War II were more likely to be hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder—in particular, a mood disorder—in adulthood than their nonevacuated sisters. The present study found that the offspring of these individuals were also at risk for mental health problems that required hospitalization and suggests that early-life adversities, including war-related exposures, may be associated with mental health disorders that persist across generations.Peer reviewe

Long term mental health outcomes of Finnish children evacuated to Swedish families during the second world war and their non-evacuated siblings: cohort study

Objectives To compare the risks of admission to hospital for any type of psychiatric disorder and for four specific psychiatric disorders among adults who as children were evacuated to Swedish foster families during the second world war and their non-evacuated siblings, and to evaluate whether these risks differ between the sexes. Design Cohort study. Setting National child evacuation scheme in Finland during the second world war. Participants Children born in Finland between 1933 and 1944 who were later included in a 10% sample of the 1950 Finnish census ascertained in 1997 (n=45 463; women: n=22 021; men: n=23 442). Evacuees in the sample were identified from war time government records. Main outcome measure Adults admitted to hospital for psychiatric disorders recorded between 1971 and 2011 in the Finnish hospital discharge register. Methods We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the association between evacuation to temporary foster care in Sweden during the second world war and admission to hospital for a psychiatric disorder between ages 38 and 78 years. Fixed effects methods were employed to control for all unobserved social and genetic characteristics shared among siblings. Results Among men and women combined, the risk of admission to hospital for a psychiatric disorder did not differ between Finnish adults evacuated to Swedish foster families and their non-evacuated siblings (hazard ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 1.26). Evidence suggested a lower risk of admission for any mental disorder (0.67, 0.44 to 1.03) among evacuated men, whereas for women there was no association between evacuation and the overall risk of admission for a psychiatric disorder (1.21, 0.80 to 1.83). When admissions for individual psychiatric disorders were analyzed, evacuated girls were significantly more likely than their non-evacuated sisters to be admitted to hospital for a mood disorder as an adult (2.19, 1.10 to 4.33). Conclusions The Finnish evacuation policy was not associated with an increased overall risk of admission to hospital for a psychiatric disorder in adulthood among former evacuees. In fact, evacuation was associated with a marginally reduced risk of admission for any psychiatric disorder among men. Among women who had been evacuated, however, the risk of being admitted to hospital for a mood disorder was increased.Peer reviewe

Magia : robust automated modeling and image processing platform for PET neuroinformatics

Generating uptake estimates from PET images requires several steps: frame-to-frame alignment, coregistration with MRI, delineation of reference region, kinetic modelling, spatial normalization and smoothing. Here we introduce Magia that can automatically perform each of these steps. Magia runs on MATLAB and processes and stores PET data in a standardized manner, facilitating neuroinformatics approaches also for PET imaging. Magia produces uptake estimates at voxel and ROI level. Given specified metadata, Magia processes studies independent of each other using one of eight analysis branches. For reference region studies, Magia automatically generates the reference regions using FreeSurfer. Currently, Magia supports SRTM, SUV-ratio, Patlak and FUR analyses. Other models can be added based on demand. Magia is free to use and can be downloaded from GitHub. Magia can generate tracer specific reference regions automatically from MRI using FreeSurfer. We validated automatic reference region generation for four PET tracers: [11C]carfentanil, [11C]raclopride, [11C]MADAM and [11C]PiB. For each tracer we chose 30 subjects from our previous projects. Five neuroscientists delineated manually tracer specific reference regions according to written and visual instructions. In the validation process we compared the new automatic method to the traditional manual method. Comparison of outcome measures (BPND or SUVR) between the methods was our primary validation metric. The validation process also included the comparison of anatomical similarities, time-activity curves and radioactivity concentrations of reference regions between the methods. No significant differences in outcome measures were observed for [11C]carfentanil and [11C]PiB. For [11C]raclopride and [11C]MADAM Magia derived outcome measures were positively biased compared to manual measures. The bias correlated negatively with BPND and in high-binding areas the bias was under 10%. Magia generates reliable reference regions for these four PET tracers. Magia has robust scalability and together with centralized database (Aivo) future bigdata analyses will become possible. Limitations: Magia processes PET studies independently and it is therefore not an optimal tool for analysing challenge studies. Also, if analysis requires plasma input it must still be generated elsewhere prior to analysis with Magia

Reproductive behavior following evacuation to foster care during World War II

<b>Background</b>: Family disruption and separation form parents during childhood may have long-lasting effects on the child. Previous literature documents associations between separation from parents and cognitive ability, educational attainment, and health, but little is known about effects on subsequent reproductive behavior. <b>Objective</b>: We evaluate the associations between unaccompanied evacuation to foster care and subsequent marriage and fertility behavior by comparing Finnish children who were evacuated to Swedish foster families during World War II to their non-evacuated siblings. <b>Methods</b>: In total, some 49,000 children were evacuated for a period ranging from months to years. We analyze a nationally representative sample of 2,009 evacuees born in 1933-1944 by combining data collected from war time government records with 1950 and 1971 censuses and 1971-2011 population registers. <b>Results</b>: Comparison of evacuated and nonevacuated same-sex siblings suggests no associations between evacuation and the probability of ever marrying, timing of first birth, and completed family size, although some associations are found in na¨ıve means comparisons. This difference in results across models is suggestive of negative selection of evacuee families. <b>Conclusions</b>: We do not find consistent evidence of any causal effect of family disruption on family formation and reproductive behavior. The results are sensitive to controlling for unobserved selection and suggest that some of the adverse outcomes documented in earlier literature could change if selection was accounted for

How Large are the Effects from Temporary Changes in Family Environment: Evidence from a Child-evacuation Program during WWII

During WWII some 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to Sweden and placed in foster families. The evacuation scheme limited sharply the scope for selection into foster care based on background characteristics. A first-come first-served policy was applied where the children were assigned a running number and processed anonymously. Using register and survey data I examine the extent to which the foster environment affected later life outcomes of the Finnish child evacuees. The results show that nurture - the socioeconomic environment at early stages of life - has an important effect on schooling, labor attachment and risky behavior.child evacuation; nurture effect; intergenerational transmission

A brief haemophilia pain coping questionnaire

Development and psychometric assessment of a questionnaire measuring pain coping for people with haemophiliaPain coping strategies are important influences on outcomes among people with painful chronic conditions. The pain coping strategies questionnaire (CSQ) was reviously adapted for sickle cell disease and haemophilia, but those versions have 80 items, and a briefer version with similar psychometric properties would facilitate research on pain coping. The full-length haemophilia-adapted CSQ, plus measures of pain frequency and intensity, pain acceptance, pain readiness to change, and health-related quality of life were completed by 190 men with haemophilia. Items were selected for a 27-item short form, which was completed 6 months later by 129 (68%) participants. Factor structure, reliability and concurrent validity were the same in the long and short forms. For the short form, internal reliabilities of the three composite scales were 0.86 for negative thoughts, 0.80 for active coping and 0.76 for passive adherence. Test–retest reliabilities were 0.73 for negative thoughts, 0.70 for active coping and 0.64 for passive adherence. Negative thoughts were associated with less readiness to change, less acceptance of pain and more impaired health-related quality of life, whereas active coping was associated with greater readiness to change and more acceptance of pain. The short form is a convenient brief measure of pain coping with good psychometric properties, and could be used to extend research on pain coping in haemophilia

Competition, Innovations and the Inverted-U Relationship

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka sambandet mellan konkurrens och innovationer. I arbetet granskas vilken inverkan konkurrensen har på den tekniska utvecklingen. Denna teoretiska granskning baserar sig på tillväxtteorier som behandlar konkurrensens dels positiva, dels negativa inverkan på företagens incitament att investera i forsknings- och utvecklingsverksamhet (FoU). Samspelet mellan konkurrens och god företagsstyrning behandlas även i detta arbete. Vidare utarbetas en utveckling till det tidigare formaliserade teoretiska sambandet mellan de stimulerande effekterna av offentligt understöd till privat FoU -verksamhet, och deras samverkan med konkurrens, analytiskt. De tre grundläggande antagandena i detta arbete är följande: 1) konkurrenspolitik och FoU-politik har komplementära effekter på FoU-verksamheten; 2) understödet till den privata FoU-verksamheten bör vara väl övervakat för att ha stimulerandeeffekter; 3) FoU-understödets stimulerande effekt antas vara kraftig vid en måttlig konkurrensnivå. Ur detta arbete framgår, det att näringsgrenens interna konkurrensläge bör tas i betraktande då beslut om allokeringen av FoU understöd görs. Vad angår övervakningen av understöden pekar detta arbete på att de bör övervakas noggrant för att uppnå positiva resultat. Slutligen visas det i arbetet, att de stimulerande effekterna av understöd till privat FoU-verksamhet är som kraftigast vid måttliga nivåer av konkurrens