Sources Of Technological Change Research Articles

Динамічні сценарії розвитку інноваційної складової публічного управління

The article examines dynamic scenarios and features of the development of innovative technologies in public management and administration. Attention is focused on studying the nature of the distribution of resources both material and labor, aimed at the creation of new technologies and the accumulation of knowledge. The process of creation of innovative technologies is analyzed as one of the types of knowledge created in the research and development sector, used by all economic agents and is an innovative component of public administration. The aim of the article is to identify the features of the process of accumulation of knowledge and creation of new technologies on the basis of a system analysis of the process of development of innovative products in the public services sector. The systemically dynamic approach presented in the article, in contrast to the existing studies, is carried out on the basis of empirical system scientific analysis, as well as the on the basis of experience of researches on the efficiency of work organization, taking into account technological trends. The influence of the parameter, which characterizes the elasticity of the speed of development of new technologies in relation to the amount of available knowledge in the research sector, on the dynamics of development of the innovative component of public administration is analyzed. A study of three different scenarios has been carried out, and it has been determined under what conditions long-term stable development and growth are possible. The effect of the results of public administration is often manifested only in the long run. A systemically dynamic approach to the study of the innovative component of the provision of public services makes it possible to identify the key components that play a central role in the performance of public administration functions. The formation and development of the innovation sector and the creation of new technologies, the State policy of its support and cooperation are necessary and important in the difficult realities of today. Although developments in the research sector are not the only source of technological change, they are one of the main sources of innovation and the main center for the creation of new innovative products and processes used in public administration and most sectors of the economy.

Appropriate technology and energy security: From the perspective of biased technological change

The heavy import dependence on oil and natural gas has threatened China's energy security. This paper discusses how to reduce the input preference for import-dependent energy (i.e., oil and natural gas) in China's manufacturing sector by selecting appropriate technology. Firstly, we estimate the biased level of import-dependent energy through a heterogeneous stochastic frontier analysis model, and employ the system generalized method of moments (SGMM) strategy to investigate the effects of various sources of technological change on the biased level of import-dependent energy. Secondly, we examine the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the biased level of import-dependent energy. The results show that both the horizontal and backward technological spillover effects from foreign-funded enterprises and technology purchase significantly reduce the biased level of import-dependent energy, while the forward technological spillovers of foreign-funded enterprises, the learning-by-exporting effect and the command-and-control policy increase the biased level. Except for indigenous technological innovation, improving the absorptive capacity will magnify the impact of other sources of technological change. Therefore, the government should encourage technology purchase, invite high-quality foreign-funded enterprises, and optimize the direction of indigenous technological innovation.

Shades of Automation in the Labor Market

This paper provides supportive evidence to the recent research on the task-based trends in the structural change of the US employment. Automation takes place either through neutral technical change at the task level, or deepening of computer capital subject to steep relative price declines. Quantifying these different sources of technological change with the task data, I show that the US labor market significantly becomes more interpersonal-service oriented, and to a lesser extent, less routine-intensive.

TECHNOLOGICAL SOURCES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EUROPE AND THE U.S.

This paper assesses the role of different sources of technological change as determinants of economic growth in a group of selected OECD countries during the period 1980–2010. We consider three different sources of growth: neutral technical change associated with Total Factor Productivity, investment-specific technical change (ISTC) embodied in capital assets, and improvements in the quality of labor services generated by human capital accumulation. The contribution to growth of each of these sources is computed using two different approaches: the standard (statistical) growth accounting and the structural growth decomposition obtained from a general equilibrium growth model. We found that the effect of ISTC dominates that of neutral technology and human capital in all of the countries considered. On average, more than 50% of productivity growth is explained by ISTC. Contributions to growth from ICT and non-ICT technical change are in general of similar magnitude.

What Shall We Expect from Big Data in Public Administration? An Investigation in a Community of Public Service Innovators in Italy

During the last years, Big Data attracted considerable attention as a potential source of innovation in public administration. What role Big Data can play in the redefinition of public services, however, has not been clarified yet. This study aims to investigate the views on the use of Big Data in public administration held within a particular policy community of innovators in public administration in Italy. Using Q methodology, the analysis shows three distinctive views on this topic, that can be understood as bearing a “pragmatist”, “sceptical”, and “cautious” stance, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the emergence of Big Data triggers reactionary positions within the policy community of innovators, but it also stimulates some ways to consider how to introduce and experiment with the new source of technological change.

Sectoral System of Innovation and Sources of Technological Change in Machinery Industry: An Investigation on Turkish Machinery Industry1

Abstract Machinery industry is the main sector in investment product sector. Therefore it has an strategic importance. Turkish machinery industry must have a technology policy to achieve competitiveness on a global level. This study, focus on the sectors which can produce and transfer technology and knowledge. Thus it is based on the basis of the sectoral system of innovation which can produce industry specific technology. In this study according to innovation activities 250 different scale firms data were collected using a questionnaire prepared by the Oslo Manual. Data were analyzed. And the results obtained from the data used for researching the level of technological capabilities of the sectors. Finally the sector's position in new technological developments such as Industry 4.0 was evaluated.

The Governance of Big Data: Perspectives and Issues

Part of governance theory highlights that, within any policy domain or sub-system, the institutional structure plays a major role in shaping how policy issues are considered, actors interact, and outcomes are evaluated. This “modernist theory of governance” stands in contrast with another, “interpretive” approach, for which governance theory should provide explanations that refer to the reasons on which people act, especially by looking at actors' beliefs, preferences, and meanings. This paper investigates the formation of ideas about the role of a source of technological change and its implications for governance practices and regime. The study focuses on the emergence of Big Data and their expected role in public administration. Using Q-methodology, the analysis shows the formation of three viewpoints about Big Data and how public administration should deal with them. Findings of this study allow to draw some qualifications around the relationship between ideas and institutions for explaining governance stability and change.

Exploring the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of farmers in global agrifood chains: findings from the coffee sector in Peru

Despite their recent proliferation in global agricultural commodity chains, little is known about the potential of intersectoral partnerships to improve the position of smallholder farmers and their organizations. This article explores the potential of partnerships by developing a conceptual approach based on the sustainable livelihoods and linking farmers to market perspectives, which is applied in an exploratory study to six partnerships in the coffee sector in Peru. It is concluded that partnerships stimulate the application of standards to receive market access and therefore emphasize human capital development of farmers to facilitate certification. By transferring knowledge to farmers, partnerships present a new source of technological change, which, in combination with certification, holds potential for improved environmental management and price premiums for producers. However, the emphasis on certification results in a comparatively narrow target group of farmers and is associated with high financial burdens for producer organizations. At the same time, other assets of producer organizations are often not strengthened sufficiently for them to operate successfully without further external support. This suggests that preparing producers for certification is prioritized over empowering organizations toward self-dependence.

蛍光灯高効率化における技術変化の要因分析

蛍光灯高効率化における技術変化の要因分析

ALERTING COMPANIES THROUGH ON-LINE PATENT TREND ANALYSIS

In a rapidly changing technology environment, companies are seeking reliable and adequate methods or tools to watch and monitor technological changes. The system introduced in this work—Patent Alert System (PAS)—automatically and systematically extracts patent data, which is a well-known and rich source of technological change and extracts the trend changes on the obtained data set. The PAS is initially set or configured to a technology class or subclass on which the users want to be informed of the trend changes. It retrieves the data of associated patent counts by the use of existing XML (Extended Markup Language) schemes of patent offices. Trend analysis is performed through a trend extraction algorithm. Data capture and trend extraction is turned off until alert is made by the user. Trends found in the patent data are expressed as the time evolution of patent and technology with the following symbols: upward (+), downward (−), and steady (stabilized). Consequently, these trends are used to generate alerts, which are forwarded on-line to the people who request/set the alerts. With the proposed software, it is possible evaluate the value of existing technologies and decide on whether the owned technology is trendy or not. Moreover, promising technologies and corresponding investment areas can be determined and irrelevant investments can be avoided. As a consequence, all these findings can be used to establish a long-term strategic technology plan.

Time Use and Food Consumption

People are getting fat. The rise in obesity rate has been particularly pronounced in the United States since the middle of the 1970s, but has by now extended into many other areas of the world. Several sources of technological change have been singled out as potential explanations for why people have been gaining so much weight. Increased productivity in agriculture has lowered the relative price of food (Darius Lakdwalla, Tomas Philipson, and Jayanta Bhattacharya 2005) while innovations in food processing have reduced the time cost of preparing food (David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser, and Jesse M. Shapiro 2003). Technological change has also affected how people spend their time, in a way that may systematically have reduced calories expended. First, physically less demanding jobs in the service sector have replaced physically more demanding jobs in agriculture and manu facturing. Second, the allocation of time across different activities has changed dramatically over the last few decades: people are spending less time working (decline in labor market work for men, decline in home production work for women) and more time in mainly sedentary forms of leisure, such as watching TV (Mark Aguiar and Erik Hurst 2007). While the focus so far has been on the rela tionship between how people spend their time and how many calories they expend, we argue in this piece that there might also be an inter esting relationship between how people spend their time and how many calories they consume. Motivating this question is a (at first glance) rather counterintuitive finding from the time use surveys: the fact that people, in the United States

Toward To A Heterodox Microeconomic Theory: Technological Development Approach Of Evolutionary Economics And Nature Of Firm

This paper deals with the theories of evolutionary economics and the evolutionary nature of the firm. Although mainstream economics, which is influenced by equilibrium-based Newtonian mechanics, dominates the academic-world we have seen a revival of interest in evolutionary ideas in heterodox economics more generally over the last two decades. Contemporary evolutionary economics, which mainly stems from works of Schumpeter, focuses on entrepreneurship and technological change in the capitalist economy and criticizes the static framework of neoclassic economics. The main aim of this paper is to summarize evolutionary approaches in economics and to investigate the source of technological change at the firm level. Main presumptions of evolutionary economics can be summarized as the consideration of dynamics, the acceptance of heterogeneity among agents and the view of interaction among agents as a selection mechanism and finally the recognition of source of continuous novelty in society. Moreover, this paper presents an assessment of emergent topics in the evolutionary literature, namely self-organization and complexity theory.

Technology Shocks Matter

This paper uses the neoclassical growth model to identify the effects of technological change on the US business cycle. In the model there are two sources of technological change: Neutral, which effects the production of all goods homogeneously, and investment-specific. Investment-specific shocks are the unique source of the secular trend in the real price of investment goods, while shocks to both kinds of technology are the only factors which affect labor productivity in the long run. Consistent with previous empirical work which considers only neutral shocks, the results suggest these shocks account for little, about 6 percent, of the business cycle variation in hours worked. In contrast, investment-specific shocks account for about 48 percent, a new finding which suggests that technology shocks are an important source of the business cycle.

THE COMPETITIVENESS OF UK MANUFACTURING: EVIDENCE FROM IMPORTS

The paper presents an empirical analysis of the behaviour of UK imports of manufactures, intended to develop understanding of non-price competitiveness by evaluating the impact of capacity constraints, international specialisation, and industrial standards. Two data sets are employed: aggregate data for the period 1970-93, and a panel of 81 industries for 1985-90. Structural stability in a model of the former suggests that no competitiveness improvement has occurred in domestic UK manufacturing which matches that found elsewhere for exports. The panel model shows the important impact of standards on imports, while confirming that skilled labour shortages are a key source of volatility. THE GROWTH of UK manufacturing is now widely regarded as a vital element in the sustainability of economic recovery, not only because of the sector's contribution to external financing but also because of its importance as a source of technological change. Yet despite improvement in aspects of the sector's performance, and especially the stabilisation in the UK's share of OECD manufactured exports (e.g. Mayes and Soteri, 1994), the growth of manufacturing remains slow, renewing doubts about competitiveness. The paper argues that the behaviour of imports provides important clues about the competitiveness of domestic manufacturing; it then uses econometric analysis to deepen understanding of the process of import growth, especially in relation to the role of non-price competitiveness. The plan of the paper is as follows. Section 2 discusses the concept of competitiveness in relation to the manufacturing sector. Section 3 analyses the determinants of imports and in particular the roles played by capacity utilisation and industrial standards. Section 4 describes two econometric exercises-one based on an aggregate time series approach and the other on panel data methods. Section 5 discusses the results of the empirical work by looking at the contribution of the various influences on imports; it also compares the results of the two sets of exercises. Section 6 concludes. 2. Competitiveness and the growth of manufacturing It has been argued in numerous recent studies that the performance of UK manufacturing improved in the course of the 1 980s, with the bulk of the evidence relating to productivity growth and the share of OECD exports. The improve

Sources of innovative activities and industrial organization in Italy

This paper is based on the information gathered through a survey on industrial innovation in 24,000 Italian business units. Two-thirds of the business units surveyed declared they had introduced innovations, although there were significant variations across industries and size. Only 16 percent of the innovating business units monitored declared they had performed R&D: as many as 13,986 business units have introduced innovations without performing R&D. The paper focuses on the different sources of technical knowledge which support the innovative activities, such as R&D, design, acquisition of capital goods, patents, etc. It considers also the relationship between concentration and innovative intensity at the industry level. It emerges that, at least at the business unit level, there is a weak correlation between the two variables. On the basis of the measured industrial concentration, the propensity to perform product versus process innovations, and the sources of technological change, a taxonomy of industrial sectors is proposed which elaborates on Pavitt's original approach. This taxonomy, instead of stressing the role of either small firms as in the flexible specialization model or of the Schumpeterian concentration to explain the intensity and nature of the innovative phenomena, indicates that sectoral differences explain more than is generally believed in understanding technological change. Efficient innovation policy should therefore be tailored to match those sectoral characteristics.

Technology and Metropolitan Office Location

The latent locational flexibility associated with the artifacts of information technology and the tangible rigidity inherent in existing and potential location patterns of metropolitan offices are explored. Convergence of exogenous and endogenous sources of technological change could bring about some radical changes in the location of offices in large cities; the range of scenarios is wide but a cautious pragmatic assessment of possible outcomes is advocated.

Economics and Population Growth: A Comment

This comment is addressed to 3 articles which modify the Malthusian schema and complicate Malthus insights. Malthus weak point to Etienne van de Walle and Susan Watkins is in the assumed relationships among nutrition morbidity and mortality--the means by which the positive check coming from a diminished food supply in relation to population was thought by Malthus to achieve an equilibrium at the subsistence wage between agricultural supply and population demand. To Thomas McKeown the required modification to Malthus lies in the need to alter the implicit assumption of a fixed technology of agricultural supply around which population pressure fluctuates in response to the positive check of mortality and to the preventive check of fertility control. Whereas McKeown implicitly accepts the concept of diminishing returns to increased inputs of labor in agriculture Julain Simon overturns even that. An increasing population and even an increasing agricultural labor force can be sustained by the existence of endogenous and continuous technological change which leads overall to increasing rather than diminishing returns to population growth. All 3 articles reject the notion of a long-run equilibrium in the relationship between resources and population. The articles of McKeown and Simon discuss the sources of technological change. McKeown states that technological change is the means by which mankind escaped during the industrialization period from the Malthusian trap. Simon attributes the advances in agriculture and transportation directly to the impact of increasing population.