This paper presents a simple evolutionary model to study the diffusion patterns of product innovations for consumer goods. Following a Veblenian theme, we interpret consumption as a social activity constrained by social norms and equality of opportunity. Societies that allow for more behavioral...

This paper advances a decision theoretical foundation for pricing scripts in the primary art market. We argue that while sociological factors play an important role, pricing scripts may well have economic determinants. We use a simple model of product differentiation implementing the undercut...

Austrian salaries of scientists working at universities, adjusted for purchasing power, are, depending on the career level, between 65 percent and 80 percent of those in the country with the highest salaries of a particular career level. Seen internationally, Austria thus pays above-average...

Survey results on financing constraints among Austrian technology-based young firms suggest that about half of the surveyed companies actually face such constraints with often adverse consequences for the innovation process.

This paper presents an analysis of innovation behaviour at the firm level across countries with different levels of technological capabilities and economic development. Using data from the Community Innovation Survey for 20 European countries the paper shows that the impact of total innovation...

Education and training are central to innovative activities in highly developed economies and hence to economic growth. Empirical analyses at firm level show that the lack of qualified human resources is the most important barrier to innovation in economies at the technological frontier, much...

The paper presents a cross-country comparison of business R&D over time. For this purpose we use a dynamic structural decomposition procedure that is able to discriminate between effects that are due to changes in the national industry structure and impacts caused by changes in R&D intensities...

The analysis on the use of patents in biotechnology in Austria and their impact on business R&D and academic research is based on a survey conducted among Austrian biotech firms and academic research institutes in 2011. The survey covered the entire population of biotech companies and research...

This paper gives a selective overview on contributions studying issues of complexity, near-decomposability and modularity in relation to economic behaviour and the theory of the firm. In the first part the paper reviews contributions studying the relationship between human problem solving in the...

The economic crisis has had a negative effect on the state of the public budgets. Consolidation measures and the slow recovery of the economy will continue to influence the budget until 2014. However, an increase in public spending on innovation and education is possible in principle, despite...