Isolation and Innovation – Two Contradictory Concepts? Explorative Findings from the German Laser Industry
Wilfried Ehrenfeld, T. Pusch, Muhamed Kudic
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 1,
2015
Abstract
We apply a network perspective and study the emergence of core-periphery (CP) structures in innovation networks to shed some light on the relationship between isolation and innovation. It has been frequently argued that a firm’s location in a densely interconnected network area improves its ability to access information and absorb technological knowledge. This, in turn, enables a firm to generate new products and services at a higher rate compared to less integrated competitors. However, the importance of peripheral positions for innovation processes is still a widely neglected issue in literature. Isolation may provide unique conditions that induce innovations which otherwise may never have been invented. Such innovations have the potential to lay the ground for a firm’s pathway towards the network core, where the industry’s established technological knowledge is assumed to be located.
The aim of our paper is twofold. Firstly, we propose a new CP indicator and apply it to analyze the emergence of CP patterns in the German laser industry. We employ publicly funded Research and Development (R&D) cooperation project data over a period of more than two decades. Secondly, we explore the paths on which firms move from isolated positions towards the core (and vice versa). Our exploratory results open up a number of new research questions at the intersection between geography, economics and network research.
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Restructuring of the East German Industry
Udo Ludwig
Region: Ekonomika i Soziologija,
2015
Abstract
The article deals with the institutional and real-economic restructuring of industry in the former GDR based on the transformation of society. It shows how the country overcame the difficulties, what were the effects of a transformational crisis and consequences for the property relations. Also discussed are the arranged measures aimed at reviving economic growth and the restructuring of industrial production related with the reindustrialization. In the final analysis the restructuring of institutions has defined the vector of development for the East German industry, which is stipulated by its integration into the all-German economic system but has a very limited potential for growth and catching-up development.
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Interrelationship between Industrial and Innovation Development in East Germany
Gerhard Heimpold
Region: Ekonomika i Soziologija,
No. 2,
2015
Abstract
The article demonstrates that the most important reason for the slowdown and stagnation of economic convergence in East Germany is the weakness in terms of research and development and innovation. It analyzes the interrelationship between industrial and innovative development in the East German federal states since 1990. The article shows how the East German industry sector and its R&D activities looked like in the late 1980s and which transition it had undergone in the course of privatization. The industrial development of the new federal states after 1990 is analyzed. The paper reveals structural shortcomings in East Germany's economy and considers their impact on the progress in R&D.
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Drivers of the Spatial Emergence and Clustering of the Photovoltaic Industry in Germany
M. Breul, T. Broekel, Matthias Brachert
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie,
No. 3,
2015
Abstract
The drivers of the spatial emergence and clustering of the photovoltaic industry in Germany. Following the relatedness literature, we explore to what extent related industries influenced the regional emergence of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. In addition, we shed light on factors explaining selective processes of clustering. We particularly argue that generic resources and resources of related activities have been crucial for the regional concentration in early phases of the industry life cycle. With increasing maturity, industry-specific resources became more important. Based on a unique dataset containing population dynamics of the German PV industry, the hypotheses are tested empirically. Our results partially confirm the assumed beneficial effects of related industries for the emergence of the PV industry. Moreover, we observe changes in the relative importance of factors supporting regional concentration, with industry-specific resources becoming dominant as the industry matures.
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Post-transition Regions as Locations for Foreign Direct Investment of Multinational Enterprises
Andrea Gauselmann
Hochschulschrift, Online-Publikation,
2014
Abstract
Multinational enterprises invest abroad to tap into location-specific advantages and to enhance their own competitiveness. At the same time, they increase productivity and industrial up-grading in the region of location and can be considered agents of technological and economic development. The aim of the thesis is to contribute to current research by investigating, which determinants and motives influence foreign investors to locate in European post-transition economies, how they appraise the quality of location factors on-site and under which conditions a knowledge and technology transfer takes place between the foreign owned firm and domestic firms, thereby leading to a better understanding of what is the impact and benefit of foreign investment in these regions.
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The Impact of Local Factors on the Scope of Benefits from Public Investment: The Case of Tourism Infrastructure in Saxon Municipalities
Martin T. W. Rosenfeld, Albrecht Kauffmann
Urban Research & Practice,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Following the transition from socialist central planning economies to market economies in all of the former socialist countries, many regions have had to cope with severe structural changes and economic development problems. To overcome these problems, local governments have tried to invest in new public infrastructure to support the development of new industries. This paper looks at infrastructure that supports tourist activities and argues that the impact of infrastructure generally depends on certain local factors which differ between municipalities. One important factor is whether the local population possesses the relevant complementary factors, in particular the right ‘soft skills’.
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Forecast Dispersion, Dissenting Votes, and Monetary Policy Preferences of FOMC Members: The Role of Individual Career Characteristics and Political Aspects
Stefan Eichler, Tom Lähner
Public Choice,
No. 3,
2014
Abstract
Using data from 1992 to 2001, we study the impact of members’ economic forecasts on the probability of casting dissenting votes in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Employing standard ordered probit techniques, we find that higher individual inflation and real GDP growth forecasts (relative to the committee’s median) significantly increase the probability of dissenting in favor of tighter monetary policy, whereas higher individual unemployment rate forecasts significantly decrease it. Using interaction models, we find that FOMC members with longer careers in government, industry, academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or on the staff of the Board of Governors are more focused on output stabilization, while FOMC members with longer careers in the financial sector or on the staffs of regional Federal Reserve Banks are more focused on inflation stabilization. We also find evidence that politics matters, with Republican appointees being much more focused on inflation stabilization than Democratic appointees. Moreover, during the entire Clinton administration ‘natural’ monetary policy preferences of Bank presidents and Board members for inflation and output stabilization were more pronounced than under periods covering the administrations of both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively.
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Does the Technological Content of Government Demand Matter for Private R&D? Evidence from US States
Viktor Slavtchev, Simon Wiederhold
Abstract
Governments purchase everything from airplanes to zucchini. This paper investigates the role of the technological content of government procurement in innovation. We theoretically show that a shift in the composition of public purchases toward high-tech products translates into higher economy-wide returns to innovation, leading to an increase in the aggregate level of private research and development (R&D). Collecting unique panel data on federal procurement in US states, we find that reshuffling procurement toward high-tech industries has an economically and statistically significant positive effect on private R&D, even after extensively controlling for other R&D determinants. Instrumental-variable estimations support a causal interpretation of our findings.
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Vierteljährliche Konjunkturberichterstattung für das Land Sachsen-Anhalt - Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Lage im 1. Quartal 2014 -
Brigitte Loose, Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Franziska Exß
IWH Online,
No. 4,
2014
Abstract
Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Produktion in Sachsen-Anhalt ist nach den indikatorgestützten Schätzungen zum Jahresanfang 2014 mit einer Rate von 0,8% ähnlich kräftig gestiegen wie in Deutschland insgesamt (0,7%). Allerdings setzt sich in Deutschland der Aufschwung nun bereits das vierte Quartal in Folge fort, während dieser in Sachsen-Anhalt zum Jahresende 2013 aufgrund einer rückläufigen Entwicklung in der Industrie und einer stagnierenden Bruttowertschöpfung im Dienstleistungsbereich zwischenzeitlich unterbrochen war. Auch im Vorjahresvergleich hat die Wirtschaft in Sachsen-Anhalt deutlich zugelegt. Die gesamtwirtschaftliche Produktion stieg gegenüber dem ersten Quartal 2013 um 1,8%, in Deutschland insgesamt nahm sie um 2,5% zu (vgl. Abbildung 1). Insbesondere das Verarbeitende Gewerbe konnte nach der Schwäche zum Jahresausklang 2013 nun wieder zulegen (vgl. saisonbereinigte Vorquartalsvergleiche in Tabelle 1). Die Bruttowertschöpfung dürfte hier sogar stärker gestiegen sein als in Deutschland. Vom Sog der vor allem binnenwirtschaftlich getriebenen Erholung in Deutschland profitierten zeitlich verzögert nun auch die Vorleistungs- sowie die Investitionsgüterproduzenten in Sachsen-Anhalt.
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In Search for Yield? Survey-based Evidence on Bank Risk Taking
Claudia M. Buch, S. Eickmeier, Esteban Prieto
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control,
No. 43,
2014
Abstract
Monetary policy can have an impact on economic and financial stability through the risk taking of banks. Falling interest rates might induce investment into risky activities. This paper provides evidence on the link between monetary policy and bank risk taking. We use a factor-augmented vector autoregressive model (FAVAR) for the US for the period 1997–2008. Besides standard macroeconomic indicators, we include factors summarizing information provided in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Terms of Business Lending (STBL). These data provide information on banks׳ new loans as well as interest rates for different loan risk categories and different banking groups. We identify a risk-taking channel of monetary policy by distinguishing responses to monetary policy shocks across different types of banks and different loan risk categories. Following an expansionary monetary policy shock, small domestic banks increase their exposure to risk. Large domestic banks do not change their risk exposure. Foreign banks take on more risk only in the mid-2000s, when interest rates were ‘too low for too long’.
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