Firm Level Investment in France and the United States: An Exploration of What We Have Learned in Twenty Years

We review the changes in modelling strategy and econometric methodology when estimating a firm-level investment equation on panel data during the past twenty years, in order to assess which of these changes result from new estimation methods and changes in the practice of panel data econometrics, and which are "real" and due to the evolution of the economy. Thus our paper consists of a series of comparisons: a simple accelerator-profit specification versus one with error correction, traditional between- and within-firm estimation versus GMM estimation, the investment behavior of French firms versus that of U.S. firms, and investment behavior today versus ten to twenty years ago. Although the econometric advances have perhaps not been as successful as we had hoped, we do find some real change in firm behavior and some improvement in equation specification and interpretation during the past twenty years.investment, panel data, GMM, international comparisons, firm- level

Univariate Panel Data Models and GMM Estimators: An Exploration Using Real and Simulated Data

This paper explores the time series properties of commonly used variables in firm-level panels: sales (turnover), employment, R\&D, investment, and cash flow. We focus on two questions: 1) whether the behavior of these series is consistent with stationarity, and if so, 2) what order of autoregressive process best describes them. The answer to these two questions is of substantive interest for those who model the dynamic evolution of firms and their behavior. In particular, we are interested in whether firm data is trend stationary (exhibits regression to individual firm means) or difference stationary (evolves as a random walk, possibly with a non-zero drift). We find that estimation of even these very simple processes using fairly large but short panels is fraught with difficulty and we explore the convergence rate of the GMM estimator using simulation methods. We also report the results of using a new class of tests proposed by Im, Pesaran, and Smith for discriminating between stationary and nonstationary processes in medium-sized panels.

Empirical Studies of Innovation in the Knowledge Driven Economy

This introduction to a special issue of EINT surveys a collection of ten papers that study various aspects of innovation and knowledge management and their impact on performance at the firm level for a number of countries. These studies have been conducted using data drawn from innovation surveys combined with data from a number of other sources. The issue illustrates the value of these surveys in improving our understanding of innovation in firms and raises a number of questions for future work in this area.

Firm-Level Investment in France and the United States: An Exploration of What We Have Learned in Twenty Years

Our two related goals in this paper are the following: Firstly and mainly, we want to examine the effects of major changes in modelling strategy and econometric methodology, over the past twenty years, on estimation of firm-level investment equations using panel data. Secondly, we try to assess whether the differences in the estimated investment equations, as between recent years and ten to twenty years go in the French and U.S. Manufacturing industries, are real' and economically meaningful. Thus our paper consists of a series of comparisons: a simple accelerator-profit specification versus one with error correction, traditional between- and within-firm estimation versus GMM estimation, the investment behavior of French firms versus that of U.S. firms, and investment behavior in recent years versus ten to twenty years ago. Although the important econometric advances of the past twenty years have been far from being as successful as we had hoped for, we do find some significant improvement in the specification, estimation and interpretation of firm investment equations; we also fin some real changes in the investment behavior of French and U.S. firms during these twenty years.

Employment, innovation, and productivity: Evidence from italian microdata

Italian manufacturing firms have been losing ground with respect to many of their European competitors. This paper presents some empirical evidence on the effects of innovation on employment growth and therefore on firmsÂ’ productivity with the goal of understanding the roots of such poor performance. We use firm level data from the last three surveys on Italian manufacturing firms conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia, which cover the period 1995-2003. Using a modified version of the model proposed by Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (2005), which separates employment growth rates into those associated with old and new products, we provide robust evidence that there is no employment displacement effect stemming from process innovation. The sources of employment growth during the period are split equally between the net contribution of product innovation and the net contribution from sales growth of old products. However, the contribution of product innovation is somewhat lower than that for the four comparison European countries considered by Harrison et al.Innovation, employment, productivity, Italy.

Employment, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Microdata.

Italian manufacturing firms have been losing ground with respect to many of their European competitors. This paper presents some empirical evidence on the effects of innovation on employment growth and therefore on firms' productivity with the goal of understanding the roots of such poor performance. We use firm level data from the last three surveys on Italian manufacturing firms conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia, which cover the period 1995-2003. Using a modified version of the model proposed by Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (2005), which separates employment growth rates into those associated with old and new products, we provide robust evidence that there is no employment displacement effect stemming from process innovation. The sources of employment growth during the period are split equally between the net contribution of product innovation and the net contribution from sales growth of old products. However, the contribution of product innovation is somewhat lower than that for the four comparison European countries considered by Harrison et al.innovation, employment, productivity, Italy

Innovation and productivity in SMEs. Empirical evidence for Italy

Innovation in SMEs exhibits some peculiar features that most traditional indicators of innovation activity do not capture. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a structural model of innovation which incorporates information on innovation success from firm surveys along with the usual R&D expenditures and productivity measures. We then apply the model to data on Italian SMEs from the “Survey on Manufacturing Firms” conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia covering the period 1995-2003. The model is estimated in steps, following the logic of firms’ decisions and outcomes. We find that international competition fosters R&D intensity, especially for high-tech firms. Firm size, R&D intensity, along with investment in equipment enhances the likelihood of having both process and product innovation. Both these kinds of innovation have a positive impact on firm’s productivity, especially process innovation. Among SMEs, larger and older firms seem to be less productive.R&D, innovation, productivity, SMEs, Italy

Identifying Age, Cohort and Period Effects in Scientific Research Productivity: Discussion and Illustration Using Simulated and Actual Data on French Physicists

The identification of age, cohort (vintage), and period (year) effects in a panel of individuals or other units is an old problem in the social sciences, but one that has not been much studied in the context of measuring researcher productivity. In the context of a semi-parametric model of productivity where these effects are assumed to enter in an additive manner, we present the conditions necessary to identify and test for the presence of the three effects. In particular we show that failure to specify precisely the conditions under which such a model is identified can lead to misleading conclusions about the productivity-age relationship. We illustrate our methods using data on the publications 1986-1997 by 465 French condensed matter physicists who were born between 1936 and 1960.

Employment, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Microdata

Italian manufacturing firms have been losing ground with respect to many of their European competitors. This paper presents some empirical evidence on the effects of innovation on employment growth and therefore on firms' productivity with the goal of understanding the roots of such poor performance. We use firm level data from the last three surveys on Italian manufacturing firms conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia, which cover the period 1995-2003. Using a slightly modified version of the model proposed by Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (HJMP 2005), which separates employment growth rates into those associated with old and new products, we find no evidence of significant employment displacement effects stemming from process innovation. The sources of employment growth during the period are split equally between the net contribution of product innovation and the net contribution from sales growth of old products. However, the contribution of product innovation to employment growth is somewhat lower than in the four European countries considered in HJMP 2005, and the contribution of innovation in general to productivity growth is almost nil in Italy during this period.

Measuring the Returns to R&D

We review the econometric literature on measuring the returns to R&D. The theoretical frameworks that have been used are outlined, followed by an extensive discussion of measurement and econometric issues that arise when estimating the models. We then provide a series of tables summarizing the major results that have been obtained and conclude with a presentation of R&D spillover returns measurement. In general, the private returns to R&D are strongly positive and somewhat higher than those for ordinary capital, while the social returns are even higher, although variable and imprecisely measured in many cases. Nous faisons un survol de la littérature économétrique qui mesure les rendements de la recherche-développement. Nous esquissons les modèles théoriques sousjacents et nous discutons en détail les problèmes de mesure et d’économétrie qui se posent quand il s’agit d’estimer ces modèles. Ensuite, nous présentons une série de tableaux qui résument les principaux résultats qui ont été obtenus et nous finissons par une discussion des mesures d’externalité de la recherche. En général, les rendements privés de la recherche sont positifs et légèrement plus élevés que ceux de l’investissement en capital physique et les taux de rendement sociaux de la R-D sont encore plus élevés, mais fragiles et imprécis.returns to R&D, innovation, social returns, spillovers, rendements de la R&D, innovation, rendements sociaux, externalités