Showing 1 - 10 of 18
The Q-theory of investment says that a firm's investment rate should rise with its Q. We argue here that this theory also explains why some firms buy other firms. We find that 1. A firm's merger and acquisition (M&A) investment responds to its Q more -- by a factor of 2.6 -- than its direct...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005710654
Electricity and Information Technology (IT) are perhaps the two most important general purpose technologies (GPTs) to date. We analyze how the U.S. economy reacted to them. The Electricity and IT eras are similar, but also differ in several important ways. Electrification was more broadly...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005088958
We study 114 years of U.S. stock market data and find That there are large cohort effects in stock prices, effects that we label 'organization capital,' That cohort effects grew at a rate of 1.75% per year, That the debt-equity ratio of all vintages declined, That three big technological waves...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005049793
We argue that takeovers have played a major role in speeding up the diffusion of new technology. The role that they play is similar to that of entry and exit of firms. We focus on and compare two periods: 1890-1930 during which electricity and the internal combustion engine spread through the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005049982
We model Moore's Law as efficiency of computer producers that rises as a by-product of their experience. We find that (1) Because computer prices fall much faster than the prices of electricity-driven and diesel-driven capital ever did, growth in the coming decades should be very fast, and that...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005050067
innovation and knowledge management and their impact on performance at the firm level for a number of countries. These studies … have been conducted using data drawn from innovation surveys combined with data from a number of other sources. The issue … illustrates the value of these surveys in improving our understanding of innovation in firms and raises a number of questions for …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005050393
Firms that entered the stock market in the 1990s were younger than any earlier cohort since World War I. Surprisingly, however, firms that IPO'd at the close of the 19th century were just as young as the companies that are entering today. We argue here that the electrification-era and the IT-era...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005580431
We review the econometric literature on measuring the returns to R&D. The theoretical frameworks that have been used are outlined, followed by an extensive discussion of measurement and econometric issues that arise when estimating the models. We then provide a series of tables summarizing the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008624599
This paper discusses the two leading views of history and political institutions. For some scholars, institutions are mainly products of historical logic, while for others, accidents, leaders, and decisions have a significant impact. We argue that while there is clear evidence that history...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010951199
To the extent that students benefit from high-achieving peers, tracking will help strong students and hurt weak ones. However, all students may benefit if tracking allows teachers to present material at a more appropriate level. Lower-achieving pupils are particularly likely to benefit from...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005248909