ICT spillovers, absorptive capacity and productivity performance

We analyse the impact of ICT spillovers on productivity in the uptake of the new technology using company data for the U.S. We account for inter- and intra-industry spillovers and assess the role played by firm’s absorptive capacity. Our results show that intra-industry ICT spillovers have a contemporaneous negative effect that turns positive 5 years after the initial investment. By contrast, inter-industry spillovers are important both in the short and in the long run. In the short run, companies’ innovative effort is complementary to ICT spillovers, but such complementarity disappears with the more pervasive adoption and diffusion of the technology

Heavy Quark Fluorescence

Heavy hadrons containing heavy quarks (for example, Upsilon-mesons) feature a scale separation between the heavy quark mass (about 4.5 GeV for the b-quark) and the QCD scale (about 0.3 GeV}) that controls effective masses of lighter constituents. Therefore, as in ordinary molecules, the de-excitation of the lighter, faster degrees of freedom leaves the velocity distribution of the heavy quarks unchanged, populating the available decay channels in qualitatively predictable ways. Automatically an application of the Franck-Condon principle of molecular physics explains several puzzling results of Upsilon(5S) decays as measured by the Belle collaboration, such as the high rate of Bs*-anti Bs* versus Bs*-anti Bs production, the strength of three-body B-anti B + pion decays, or the dip in B momentum shown in these decays. We argue that the data is showing the first Sturm-Liouville zero of the Upsilon(5S) quantum mechanical squared wavefunction, and providing evidence for a largely b-anti b composition of this meson.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Figure 2 updated and some typos corrected. To be published in Physical Review Letter

Creative economy employment in the EU and the UK: a comparative analysis

Analysts and policymakers have long complained of the dearth of internationally comparable statistics on the creative industries because it has made it impossible to benchmark the performance of different countries. In January 2014, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) adopted the Dynamic Mapping methodology for classifying some industries as ‘creative’ and others not, for the purposes of producing the UK’s Creative Industries Economic Estimates (DCMS, 2014). This methodology is based on the theoretical and empirical argument that the creative industries are “those industries that specialise in the employment of creative talent for commercial purposes” (Bakhshi, Hargreaves and Mateos–Garcia, 2013) – that is, have unusually high proportions of their workforce employed in creative occupations (‘creative intensity’). Through its use of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes and labour force survey data, the Dynamic Mapping methodology was designed to enable the production of internationally comparable statistics (Bakhshi, Freeman and Higgs 2013)

Minimum of η/s\eta/s and the phase transition of the Linear Sigma Model in the large-N limit

We reexamine the possibility of employing the viscosity over entropy density ratio as a diagnostic tool to identify a phase transition in hadron physics to the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma and other circumstances where direct measurement of the order parameter or the free energy may be difficult. It has been conjectured that the minimum of eta/s does indeed occur at the phase transition. We now make a careful assessment in a controled theoretical framework, the Linear Sigma Model at large-N, and indeed find that the minimum of eta/s occurs near the second order phase transition of the model due to the rapid variation of the order parameter (here the sigma vacuum expectation value) at a temperature slightly smaller than the critical one.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, v2, some references and several figures added, typos corrected and certain arguments clarified, revised for PR

We see ICT spillovers everywhere but in the econometric evidence: a reassessment

Using company-level data for the US we study the productivity effects of knowledge spillovers, induced by the diffusion of ICT in the markets where companies operate. We adopt multiple spillover proxies and account for firms' absorptive capacity and lagged effects. Our results show that intra-industry ICT spillovers have a contemporaneous negative effect while the impact of inter-industry spillovers is positive. The overall productivity effect of ICT is negative, except for those companies with a strong absorptive capacity. However, after a 5-year lag the overall spillover effect turns positive while the role of absorptive capacity diminishes as a consequence of decreasing learning costs and more accessible technology

UK Skills and Productivity in an International Context

A nation's prosperity depends largely on its ability to raise the level of its productivity. The education level of its workforce, and how effectively the skills are used in the production processes, are considered important factors in this process. In this report we investigate the extent to which skills have contributed to recent productivity performance in the UK. We do this within a cross-country framework, where we compare the UK's productivity trajectories with those of other close competitors. We quantify the role played by different types of certified skills, both academic and vocational, taking account of the influence of other factors, such as capital investment and technological change. Furthermore, we assess the influence of intangible investments, usually excluded from published data and traditional growth studies. We use a wide range of data sources, and employ growth accounting and panel data econometric techniques. The study begins with a comprehensive review of the literature on the role of human capital in productivity and growth, from both a theoretical and empirical point of view (section 1). We then provide a description of aggregate productivity and employment trends in section 2. Section 3 contains detailed results of the growth accounting decomposition and Section 4 summarises the econometric analysis. Sections 5 and 6 outline the key findings and conclusions emerging from this analysis. The main research questions addressed in this report are: • What have been the main sources of growth in the UK and other major economies since the recession? How have these differed relative to the previous periods? • What is the link between skills and productivity/growth? How have skills contributed to growth over recent years? • What is the contribution of different types of skills to growth? Where does the UK fare better and worse compared to international competitors? • What is the role of training and other intangible assets in explaining productivity and growth outcomes? Do they interact differently with different types of skilled workers