We introduce a new task-based framework to describe production. It focuses on the fact that certain tasks are too complex for many workers to perform. In such an environment, the relationship between wages of workers may significantly differ from their relative productivities. The labor market...

We study the effect of the Thousand Young Talents Program (TYTP) on the academic quality of return migrant scientists to China. Using a unique dataset of the top Chinese mathematics departments' new hires, we find that the program leads to considerable increases in measures of their educational...

Federal research funding to universities is often based on a desire to stimulate innovation – so that they spend taxpayer money for "something". There is growing understanding of the need to change the structure of research funding in order to do so; less is known about the effectiveness of...

Subsidized research joint ventures (RJVs) between public research institutions and industry have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US. We study the long-run effects of such a support scheme that has been maintained by the Danish government since 1995. To cope with identification...

When investing in research and development (R&D), institutions must decide whether to take a top-down approach – soliciting a particular technology – or a bottom-up approach in which innovators suggest ideas. This paper examines a reform to the U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation...

To examine the drivers of innovation, this paper studies the global R&D effort to fight the deadliest diseases and presents four results. We find: (1) global pharmaceutical R&D activity—measured by clinical trials—typically follows the 'law of diminishing efforts': i.e. the elasticity of R&D...

We study the effects of a Danish wage subsidy program for highly educated workers on the labor market outcomes of the persons participating in the program and on the performance of the firms that hired these subsidized workers. Using data on the population of program participants, both...

We study how profit taxation affects plants' R&D spending and innovation activities. Relying on geocoded survey panel data which approximately covers the universe of R&D-active plants in Germany, we exploit around 7,300 changes in the municipal business tax rate over the period 1987 2013 for...

We analyse all the major sources of direct and indirect R&D subsidies in Norway in the period 2002-2013 and compare their effects on individual firms' performance. Firms that received support are matched with a control group of firms that did not receive support using a combination of...