This paper asks whether the level of integration of world countries in the international network of temporary human mobility can explain differences in their per-capita income and labor productivity. We disentangle the role played by global country centrality in the network from traditional...

This paper discusses the evolution of firms' productivity and structural heterogeneity (SH) in the Brazilian manufacturing industry in the 2000s. SH is defined (following the Latin American structuralist tradition) as a situation in which a large share of total firms is in the lowest...

We examine the diffusion of steam technology across British counties during the eighteenth century. First, we provide new estimates for the regional variations in the timing, pace and extent of usage of steam engines. Our main data source is an updated version of the list of steam engines...

This work addresses the role of inter-sectoral innovation flows, which we frame as technological interdependencies, in determining sectoral employment dynamics. This purpose is achieved through the construction of an indicator capturing the amount of R&D expenditures embodied in the backward...

The patterns of innovation diffusion are well approximated by the logistic curves. This is the robust empirical fact confirmed by many studies in innovations dynamics. Here we show that the logistic pattern of innovation diffusion can be replicated by the time-dependent stochastic process with...

The diffusion of innovations is supposed to dissipate inventors' rents. Yet in many documented cases, inventors freely shared knowledge with their competitors. Using a model and case studies, this paper explores why sharing did not eliminate inventors' incentives. Each new technology coexisted...

Using the entire population of USPTO patent applications published between 2002 and 2019, and leveraging on both patent classification and semantic analysis, this papers aims to map the current knowledge base centred on robotics and AI technologies. These technologies will be investigated both...

New enabling technologies are shaping the transformation of production activities. This process of change is characterised by growing digitization, inter-connectivity and automation. The diffusion of new technologies is, however, very uneven, and firms display different adoption behaviours. By...

Investments in advanced manufacturing technologies are expected to generate substantial gains for firms. The aim of this work is to evaluate the nature and extent of such gains. We use information on the ''Nuova Sabatini'' subsidy - an important policy measure adopted in Italy over the last few...

In this work we characterise French firms using artificial intelligence (AI) and explore the link between AI use and productivity. We relevantly distinguish AI users that source AI from external providers (AI buyers) from those developing their own AI systems (AI developers). AI buyers tend to...