East German innovative expertise strongest in Berlin and Dresden
Peter Franz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 1,
2005
Abstract
Bestrebungen, die Wirtschaftsförderung sowohl sektoral als auch regional stärker zu konzentrieren, ziehen einen erhöhten Informationsbedarf über solche Schwerpunktbildungen („Cluster“) auf Seiten der Politik nach sich. In diesem Kontext hat das IWH in einem Gutachten die räumliche Verteilung von Branchenschwerpunkten, Unternehmensnetzwerken und innovativen Kompetenzfeldern für Ostdeutschland flächendeckend untersucht. Die mit dem Hilfsmittel der Patentstatistik identifizierten innovativen Kompetenzfelder sind zur Hälfte in den Räumen Berlin und Dresden konzentriert. Dazu kommen kleinere Konzentrationen in den Räumen Chemnitz und Jena. Dagegen sind sie in den nördlich und östlich gelegenen Regionen nur spärlich vertreten. Innovative Kompetenzfelder mit einer herausragenden Zahl von Patentaktivitäten finden sich in der Elektrotechnik, der anorganischen Chemie und der Biotechnologie. Die Identifizierung und Lokalisierung innovativer Kompetenzfelder kann aber nur einen Zwischenschritt in der Erforschung der konstituierenden Elemente regionaler Wachstumskerne darstellen.
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The Role of Regional Knowledge Sources for Innovation – An Empirical Assessment
Michael Fritsch, Viktor Slavtchev
Freiberg Working Papers, Nr. 15-2005,
No. 15,
2005
Abstract
Wir untersuchen die Bedeutung verschiedener Inputs, insbesondere verschiedener Wissensquellen, für den regionalen Output an Erfindungen (Patente) mithilfe einer Wissensproduktionsfunktion. Als Wissensquellen werden die FuE-Beschäftigte im Privatsektor, die Größe der Universitäten und Fachhochschulen sowie das Volumen der von ihnen aus verschiedenen Quellen eingeworbenen Drittmittel berücksichtigt. Die Bedeutung dieser Wissensquellen wurde systematisch auf der Ebene der westdeutschen Kreise getestet, wobei Informationen sowohl über den jeweiligen Kreis als auch über die Nachbarkreise einbezogen wurden. Es stellt sich heraus, dass von der Qualität der in den Universitäten und Fachhochschulen betriebenen Forschung ein signifikanter Einfluss auf die regionale Innovationstätigkeit ausgeht. Die reine Größe der Universitäten und Fachhochschulen in der Region hat hingegen keinen Einfluss. Darüber hinaus ermitteln wir Unterschiede nach Herkunft von Drittmitteln sowie Unterschiede in der Bedeutung verschiedener Fachdisziplinen für regionale Innovationsaktivitäten. Wissensspillover sind im Wesentlichen auf die angrenzenden Kreise begrenzt.
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Technology spillovers from external investors in East Germany: no overall effects in favor of domestic firms
Harald Lehmann, Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 198,
2004
Abstract
The study deals with the question whether external (foreign and West German) investors in East Germany induce technological spillover effects in favor of domestic firms. It ties in with a number of other econometric spillover studies, especially for transition economies, which show rather mixed and inconclusive results so far. Different from existing spillover analyses, this study allows for a much deeper regional breakdown up to Raumordnungsregionen and uses a branch classification that explicitly considers intermediate and investment good linkages. The regression results show no positive correlation between the presence of external investors and domestic firms’ productivity, no matter which regional breakdown is looked at (East Germany as a whole, federal states, or Raumordnungsregionen). Technology spillovers which may exist in particular cases are obviously not strong enough to increase the domestic firms’ overall productivity.
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The Contestable Markets Theory - Efficient Advice for Economic Policy
Christian Growitsch, Thomas Wein
Externe Publikationen,
2004
Abstract
During the nineties of the last century several formerly monopolistic markets (telecommunication, electricity, gas, and railway) have been deregulated in Germany based on European directives and theoretically inspired by the theory of contestable markets. The original contestable market theory implied three assumptions necessary to be satisfied to establish potential competition: Free market entry, market exit possible without any costs, and the price adjustment lag exceeding the entry lag. Our analysis shows that if the incumbent reduces its prices slowly (high adjustment lag) and the market entry can be performed quickly (low entry lag), a new competitor will be able to earn back sunk costs. Therefore it is not necessary that all three conditions be complied with for potential competition to exist. Applying this „revised“ contestable market theory to the deregulated sectors in Germany, natural monopolies can be identified in telecommunication sections local loops and local/regional connection networks, in the national electricity grid and the regional/local electricity distribution networks, in the national and regional/local gas transmission/distribution sections, and in the railroad network. These sections are not contestable due to sunk costs, expected high entry lags and a probably short price adjustment lag. They are identified as bottlenecks, which should be regulated. The function of system operators in energy and railroad are closely related to the non-contestable monopolistic networks.
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The influence of Vertical Integration and Property Rights on Network Access Charges in the German Electricity Markets
Christian Growitsch, Thomas Wein
Externe Publikationen,
No. 6,
2004
Abstract
German Electricity markets were deregulated in the late nineties of the last century. In contrast to other European countries, the German government enacted negotiated third party access instead of installing a regulation authority. Network access charges for new competitors are based on contractual arrangements between energy producers and industrial consumers, which specify the calculation schemes for access charges. Local and regional suppliers are nevertheless able to set (monopolistic) charges at their own discretion, restricted only by the possibility of interference competition authorities. While some of those suppliers have been acquired by one of the four Transmission System Operators and become vertically integrated, the majority is still independent public utility companies. In this paper we analyse if there is evidence for different charging behaviour depending on the supplier’s economic independence or its level of vertical integration. Controlling for other coefficients as the so called structural features and related cost differences as well as the influence of competition law suits, multivariate estimations show significantly lower access charges than vertically separated suppliers, whereas incorporated network operators charge significantly higher charges compared to independent suppliers for at least one typical case.
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Innovation cooperation: experiences from East and West Germany
Jutta Günther
Science and Public Policy,
2004
Abstract
This paper deals with innovation cooperation as a means to support the ongoing catch-up process of the East German economy. Against prevalent beliefs, it can be shown that East German enterprises are more often involved in innovation co-operation than West German firms, and differences in cooperation partner priorities only reflect the given structural differences between the two regions. While cooperating enterprises in East and West Germany are clearly more innovative than their non-cooperating counterparts, a productivity advantage of these firms is (so far) only observable in West Germany. Reasons for this surprising finding are discussed.
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Technological capability of foreign and West German investors in East Germany
Jutta Günther
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 189,
2004
Abstract
Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role for countries or regions in the process of economic catching-up since it is assumed – among other things – that FDI brings in new production technology and knowledge. This paper gives an overview about the development of FDI in East Germany based on official data provided by the Federal Bank of Germany. The investigation also includes a comparison of FDI in East Germany to Central East European countries. But the main focus of the paper is an analysis of the technological capability comparing majority foreign and West German owned firms to majority East German owned firms. It shows that foreign and West German subsidiaries in East Germany are indeed characterized by superior technological capability with respect to all indicators looked at (product innovation, research & development, organizational changes etc.).
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The national German innovation system. Its development in different governmental and territorial structures
Hariolf Grupp, Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Monika Friedrich-Nishio
The international handbook on innovation,
2003
Abstract
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Structurally Weak Regions as Locations for the Information and Communications Industry - The Example of Saxony-Anhalt
Rupert Kawka
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2003
Abstract
Im Artikel werden die IuK-Firmen in Sachsen-Anhalt mit der Benchmarkregion München verglichen, die bezüglich dieser Branche als die bestentwickelte deutsche Region gilt. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die sachsen-anhaltinischen Firmen hinsichtlich ihrer Mitarbeiter- und Umsatzzahlen wesentlich kleiner als die Unternehmen in München sind, und sie bedienen auch nicht nur regionale Märkte, sondern sind auch national konkurrenzfähig. Allerdings zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Firmen in München wesentlich stärker international agieren als die sachsen-anhaltinischen Unternehmen.
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Regionale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit durch Erzielung von Wissensvorsprüngen? Für und Wider neuerer Theorieansätze
Peter Franz
Die Bedeutung von externen Effekten und Kollektivgütern für die regionale Entwicklung,
2002
Abstract
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