Drivers of innovation productivity of academic researchers through career advancement

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This paper studies the innovation productivity of academic researchers across their career advancement. Taking patents and invention disclosures as indicators...     

Foreign direct investment (FDI): friend or foe of non-innovating firms?

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This paper examines the incentives of firms to bypass the innovation process by not pursuing innovation, focusing specifically on whether FDI enables innovation...     

Determinants of software piracy: economics,institutions, and technology

This paper determines the various influences on software piracy using a large sample of countries. In particular, our cross-sectional study estimates the effects of economic, institutional and technical factors on the piracy of software. A more comprehensive look at potential determinants of software piracy, including economic and non-economic factors, may be considered as the main contribution to a literature that is still in its infancy. Results show that a country’s stage of development and the quality of governance have the largest impact on the incidence of software piracy. Greater economic and political freedoms are shown to have opposite effects on piracy. Further, greater diffusion of the Internet and of computer technologies, other things equal, actually promote the legal use of software. Higher access prices also reduce piracy, with the impact of telephone charges being more pronounced than that of Internet access fees. There are significant variations in the impacts of different types of legal institutions and of fractionalization on piracy. The influence of digital divide between rural and urban areas does not significantly affect the piracy of software. Overall, economic, institutional, and technological factors exert important influences on software piracy, albeit with some qualitative and quantitative differences. Policy implications are discussed.     

Rent-Seeking in Research Markets

Using a standard model of uncertain innovation, this paper examines research rivalry and rent-seeking rivalry in innovation markets. Previous literature has not considered the implications of rent-seeking in research markets. We find that greater rent-seeking by the rival unambiguously lowers own profit-maximizing research and rent-seeking activity. On the other hand, greater research spending by the rival also lowers own research and rent-seeking, especially when the probability of own innovation is low. Policy implications are discussed.     

Protection and conservation--TRIPs and CBD: a way forward

Legal context: There is a complex relationship and interplay between TRIPsand CBD, two multilateral agreements adopted to attain inherentlydistinctive objectives. Key points: The CBD/TRIPs issue has been discussed in the WTO since 1996in the Committee on Trade and Environment, and has been on theagenda of the TRIPs Council since 1999. At the WTO Doha MinisterialMeeting in 2001, a Trade Minister made reference to the issuein paragraphs 12 and 19, instructing the Council for TRIPs tolook into the relations between TRIPs and CBD. The discussionin the TRIPs Council has gone into considerable detail witha number of ideas and various proposals have been mooted todeal with the same. Practical significance: This paper attempts to discuss and analyse the areas of possibleconflict and reasons for such conflicts. It also seeks to gainan insight into the thought-process of the various stakeholders,then discusses alternative courses of action, and attempts tochart the way forward.     

Research spending under regulatory uncertainty

Using a simple model this paper examines firm behavior under three types of uncertainties dealing with innovation occurrence, innovation scale, and a possible threat of regulatory action. Firms compete in the existing product market and engage in R&D in Stage I. Innovation takes place in the second stage, the successful firm achieves a monopoly and becomes aware of the scale of innovation. Regulators examine the new product and decide on possible action. Results show that increases in the probability of regulation reduce research spending as do higher regulatory taxes. These results are reversed when the regulator grants a subsidy, instead. An increase in the probability of drastic innovation increases research spending under certain conditions. The effect of market entry is unclear. Our results generally carry through when the model is extended to include only an innovation race or the nondrastic innovation is alternately regulated. Policy implications are discussed.

On the economic incentives for taking bribes

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the factors affecting bribe taking by public officials. Factors influencing the acceptance of bribes include: the probability of being convicted, severity of punishment, government salary relative to private sector income, the demonstration effect, and the unemployment rate. Our results indicate that higher probability of being convicted discourages the acceptance of bribes as does more severe punishment. Low relative earnings, high unemployment, and the demonstration effect of aggregate advertising all lead to increased bribe taking.     

Innovation by foreign researchers: relative influences of internal versus external human capital

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Innovation productivity of expatriate researchers and human capital that empowers them is an important issue; however, with a scarcity of relevant data, formal...     

IPR infringement in the United States: impacts on the input and output of R&D

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This paper examines the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement on the input (R&D spending) and output (patents) of the research...     

Effects of female workforce participation on crime: An analysis from the districts of India

This article assesses the impact of female workforce participation on violent and non‐violent crimes in India. Increase in female workforce should lead to greater investment in education and labour, more specifically by men. Greater representation of females also leads to increase in reporting of crime. These factors raise apprehension and conviction costs and should lead to fall in criminal engagements. Estimates suggest that a percent rise in female workforce leads to 1.5% rise in non‐violent crimes contemporaneously. With a decade lag, rise in female workforce causes reduction in violent crime by 1.1% and non‐violent crime by 2.24%.