MERIT Research Memoranda最新文献

{"title":"Het management van de kennisstroom: een sleutelrol voor het personeelsbeleid","authors":"den Hertog J.F., van Sluijs E.","doi":"10.26481/UMAMER.1995004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/UMAMER.1995004","url":null,"abstract":"De effectiviteit van de innovatiefunctie staat in veel bedrijven ter discussie. Goede ideeen moeten wor-den omgezet in klinkende munt. Dit betekent niet alleen dat kennis effectief moet worden ontwikkeld, maar ook effectief overgedragen en gebruikt. De kennisstromen van de onderneming vragen adequaat management, net als de geldstromen en de materiaalstromen. Het management van kennisstromen is met name van belang bij organisaties waarin:* de kennisintensiteit toeneemt; * er sprake is van de invoering van business units; * de vraag zich steeds meer opdringt waarop het bedrijf zich van andere bedrijven kan onderschei-den; en * de dienstverlening een steeds belangrijker rol gaat spelen. Deze studie laat zien hoe het management van kennisstromen in de praktijk van een vijftal industriele en dienstverlenende bedrijven vorm krijgt. De studie schetst welke belangrijke rol het personeelsbeleid daarbij kan spelen. Praktisch elke interventie uit het personeelsbeleid is immers op te vatten als een in-greep in de kennisstroom. De instrumenten van het personeelsbeleid die hierbij worden ingezet zijn niet nieuw, maar wel de wijze waarop zij worden ingezet: ter ondersteuning van de bedrijfsontwikkeling. De studie schetst ten slotte de weg waarlangs een nieuwe kennisstructuur kan worden opgebouwd. De introductie van laterale groepen en de ondersteunende rol van de informatietechnologie komen daarbij aan de orde. Het management wordt in dit proces vooral een borgende rol toebedeeld.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128772744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Overeducation and crowding out of low-skilled workers","authors":"Muysken J., ter Weel B.J.","doi":"10.26481/umamer.1998020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/umamer.1998020","url":null,"abstract":"This paper develops a model to explain the following stylised facts: (1) returns to schooling have declined strongly over time and are only recovering gradually, whereas schooling attainment did recover much more strongly; (2) there is a rather general level of overeducation; (3) unemployment for low educated persons is much higher than for high educated persons; (4) the rate of return on overeducation is positive. In the model the search-theoretical analysis of Pissarides is applied to skilled demand for labour and extended to allow for job competition. It is combined with human capital theory to explain the level of education.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121315535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Skilled-unskilled wage differentials, unemployment and hours of work: the case of America and Europe","authors":"J. Muysken, Geralt Nekkers","doi":"10.26481/umamer.2000002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/umamer.2000002","url":null,"abstract":"In our analysis we follow Davis (1998a) and consider the consequences from trade between a flexible-wage America and a rigid-minimum-wage Europe. The minimum wage implies a certain level of unemployment in Europe, whereas factor price equalisation guarantees the same wage in America, albeit at full employment levels. We then use a process of endogenous human capital accumulation, together with a lower schooling productivity for the American unskilled workers to explain the larger skilled-unskilled wage differential in America. Moreover, we show that unskilled workers in America will work more hours than their European counterparts.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"521 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123901034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Creation and destruction of comparative advantage by public investment in the transport infrastructure of transit economies and by environmental taxes","authors":"T. Ziesemer","doi":"10.26481/umamer.1998019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/umamer.1998019","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we show conditions under which the accumulation of public infrastructure capital over time may create the comparative advantage of the production of transport services and destroy that of the production of goods in a market equilibrium of a transit economy. We also show conditions under which it will not change comparative advantage. Moreover, we also show the conditions under which an environmental tax on pollution from transport will shift the specialization back to the production of goods. In the model used, specialization is determined by: the productivity of the sectors; the transit volume; the taxes raised for the use of roads; the world market prices of goods and transport services; and environmental taxes. Gains from trade are analysed and comparative-static properties of globalization and tax policy are discussed.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"81 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116958037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"R&D collaboration by SMEs in ICT industries: opportunities and limitations","authors":"R. Narula","doi":"10.26481/UMAMER.2000028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/UMAMER.2000028","url":null,"abstract":"Globalisation has systemically affected the way firms undertake innovation. First, there has been a growing use of non-internal technology development, both by outsourcing and strategic alliances. Second, there has been a increasing of cross-fertilization of technologies, such that products are increasingly multi-technology. This is particularly so in the ICT sector. These developments have created both opportunities and threats for the SME. On the one hand, there has been a proliferation in the number and types of SMEs, and enhanced their ability to compete more successfully with their larger counterparts . On the other hand, some of the benefits of globalisation have accrued equally to both groups of firms. This is particularly so for the 'traditional SME' and is associated with the increasingly paradigmatic and maturing nature of the ICT sector. Although SMEs have the advantages of being flexibility and rapid response to change, there are also disadvantages due to their absolute size limitations which may have been enhanced due to increased cross-border competition.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"04 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130634270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dissent on convergence: the role of public factors, international trade and path dependence","authors":"T. Ziesemer","doi":"10.26481/umamer.1996004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/umamer.1996004","url":null,"abstract":"The distribution of world income across countries would approach an egalitarian one if countries with a lower level of the gross national product (GNP) had a higher growth rate of their GNP. Whether or not this convergence from low to high levels of GNP can be expected has been the subject of debate for a long time. Nowadays this debate takes place under the header of ’convergence’; in earlier days it was called the question of development and underdevelopment. Optimists on this question tend to present evidence as in Figure 1. For this sample of countries we see that countries with a lower level of productivity in 1870 had higher growth rates from 1870 to 1979. The sceptics include more countries. This is shown in Figure 2. This figure no longer shows an obvious tendency towards convergence. On the contrary, it is remarkable here that among low income countries we see the broadest range of growth rates. Mankiw, Romer and Weil (1992, Table III) indeed show that the tests for unconditional convergence yield a tendency towards convergence for the OECD sample but not for their two larger samples. However, this does not mean that the convergence view is completely wrong. Mankiw (1995), based on Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1991) and MRW (1992), defends the convergence idea. Once one corrects for different savings rates and rates of population growth, they argue, the convergence view is correct. This argument is presented more precisely using the neoclassical growth model. The neoclassical growth model considers convergence from the point of view of capital accumulation. The capital-labour ratio k = K/AL, with K the stock of capital, A the stock of technical knowledge and L the exogenous labour hours, often called population, grows at rate","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133424116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Technological Standardization with and without Borders in an Interacting Agents Model","authors":"R. Cowan, W. Cowan","doi":"10.26481/UMAMER.1998015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/UMAMER.1998015","url":null,"abstract":"This paper models an economy in which a large number of agents are choosing among several technologies. There is a single, global, market for the technologies but they are subject to localized network externalities in use. We examine the issue of technological standardization, and the coordination of choices among the agents. We generate equilibirum conditions under two spatial conditions - agents located in a featureless plain, and agents located in pre-existing regions with strong borders. We find the conditions under which standardization exists - globally, only locally, or not at all - and derive the effects of different parameters. The presence of a phase change is demonstrated. An appendix provides a derivation o f the equilibrium condition used in many interacting agents models.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116938202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simulation models of technological innovation: a review","authors":"P. Windrum","doi":"10.26481/UMAMER.1999005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/UMAMER.1999005","url":null,"abstract":"The use of simulation modelling techniques in studies of technological innovation dates back to Nelson and Winter''s 1982 book \"An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change\" and is an area which has been steadily expanding ever since. Four main issues are identified in reviewing the key contributions that have been made to this burgeoning literature. Firstly, a key driver in the construction of computer simulations has been the desire to develop more complicated theoretical models capable of dealing with the complex phenomena characteristic of technological innovation. Secondly, no single model captures all of the dimensions and stylised facts of innovative learning. Indeed this paper argues that one can usefully distinguish between the various contributions according to the particular dimensions of the learning process which they explore. To this end the paper develops a taxonomy which usefully distinguishes between these dimensions and also clarifies the quite different perspectives underpinning the contributions made by mainstream economists and non-mainstream, neo-Schumpeterian economists. This brings us to a third point highlighted in the paper. The character of simulation models which are developed are heavily influenced by the generic research questions of these different schools of thought. Finally, attention is drawn to an important distinction between the process of learning and adaptation within a static environment, and dynamic environments in which the introduction of new artefacts and patterns of behaviour change the selective pressure faced by agents. We show that modellers choosing to explore one or other of these settings reveal their quite different conceptual understandings of \"technological innovation\".","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126368848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intellectual property rights in a knowledge-based economy","authors":"R. Cowan, E. Harison","doi":"10.26481/umamer.2001027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/umamer.2001027","url":null,"abstract":"Intellectual property rights (IPR) have been created as economic mechanisms to facilitate ongoing innovation by granting inventors a temporary monopoly in return for disclosure of technical know-how. Since the beginning of 1980s, IPR have come under scrutiny as new technological paradigms appeared with the emergence of knowledge-based industries. Knowledge-based products are intangible, non-excludable and non-rivalrous goods. Consequently, it is difficult for their creators to control their dissemination and use. In particular, many information goods are based on network externalities and on the creation of market standards. At the same time, information technologies are generic in the sense of being useful in many places in the economy. Hence, policy makers often define current IPR regimes in the context of new technologies as both over- and under-protective. They are over-protective in the sense that they prevent the dissemination of information which has a very high social value; they are under-protective in the sense that they do not provide strong control over the appropriation of rents from their invention and thus may not provide strong incentives to innovate. During the 1980s, attempts to assess the role of IPR in the process of technological learning have found that even though firms in high-tech sectors do use patents as part of their strategy for intellectual property protection, the reliance of these sectors on patents as an information source for innovation is lower than in traditional industries. Intellectual property rights are based mainly on patents for technical inventions and on copyrights for artistic works. Patents are granted only if inventions display minimal levels of utility, novelty and non-obviousness of technical know-how. By contrast, copyrights protect only final works and their derivatives, but guarantee protection for longer periods, according to the Berne Convention. Licensing is a legal aid that allows the use of patented technology by other firms, in return for royalty fees paid to the inventor. Licensing can be contracted on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis, but in most countries patented knowledge can be exclusively held by its inventors, as legal provisions for compulsory licensing of technologies do not exist. The fair use doctrine aims to prevent formation of perfect monopolies over technological fields and copyrighted artefacts as a result of IPR application. Hence, the use of patented and copyrighted works is permissible in academic research, education and the development of technologies that are complimentary to core technologies. Trade secrecy is meant to prevent inadvertent technology transfer to rival firms and is based on contracts between companies and employees. However, as trade secrets prohibit transfer of knowledge within industries, regulators have attempted to foster disclosure of technical know-how by institutional means of patents, copyrights and sui-generis laws. And indeed, following th","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123693051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Globalization, tax erosion and the Internet","authors":"Luc Soete, Bas Ter","doi":"10.26481/UMAMER.1998022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26481/UMAMER.1998022","url":null,"abstract":"Electronic commerce and globalization are, and will continue to be a challenge to tax collectors throughout the world. Globalization makes the cross-border movements in goods, capital and labour less transparent. Companies and individuals are therefore able to exploit tax differences between countries. The Internet eliminates borders between countries and furthermore makes businesses virtually invisible. At the consumer end, E-commerce makes the tracing of transactions and thus the taxing of goods and services sold and distributed via the Internet almost impossible. As a result, state and national governments’ tax bases are, or are at risk of, being eroded.","PeriodicalId":111252,"journal":{"name":"MERIT Research Memoranda","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123765003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}