This essay explores the nature, the functioning, and the economic and policy implications of markets for technology. Today, the outsourcing of research and development activities is more common than in the past, and specialized technology suppliers have emerged in many industries. In a sense,...

Division of labor has benefits in addition to the direct productivity increases from specialization: In this paper we study how the development of specialized upstream technology suppliers improves access and lowers investment costs for latecomer downstream firms. Using a simple model, we test...

To truly create new value, you need a theory. A theory helps you to see what others can’t. Through contrarian or unique beliefs, a firm creates the underlying raw material for its theory of value. But unless you identify the specific obstacles to your contrarian beliefs, they are no more than...

We study the production of knowledge when many researchers or inventors are involved, in a setting where tensions can arise between individual public and private contributions. We first show that without some kind of coordination, production of the public knowledge good (science or research...

This article surveys some of the recent literature on technology markets, and summarizes its main issues and insights. We structure our analysis in three parts: the supply and demand of technology; the factors that condition the formation and growth of technology markets; industry structure and...

By drawing information from a survey of inventors of 9,017 European patents (PatVal-EU), this paper provides novel and detailed data about the characteristics of the European inventors, the sources of their knowledge, the importance of formal and informal collaborations among researchers and...

In this work we discuss the impact of the new ICT techno-economic paradigm upon the vertical and horizontal boundaries of the firm and ask whether the change in the sources of competitive advantage has resulted in changes in the size distribution of firms and also in the degree of concentration...

This paper links the rise of new industries populated by skill-intensive companies, and the divergence in labour incomes between skills. Our model explains inequality by the fact that as the skilled workers move towards new Silicon-Valley type firms, the reduced complementarity between skilled...

This paper purports to explain some recent trends in several advanced economies. Our model shows that the rise of new scientific and technological opportunities, and particularly the opportunities to develop riskier technological projects, is at the basis of the blossoming of small-medium sized...