Formal institutions, e.g., regulations, are considered crucial determinants of entrepreneurship, but what enables regulatory change when there is a regulatory void, meaning entrepreneurship clashes with existing regulations? Drawing on public choice theory, we hypothesize that regulatory freedom...

We investigate the misappropriation of R&D subsidies and evaluate its consequences for policy effectiveness. Using Chinese firm-level data for 2001-2011, we identify that 42% of grantees misused R&D subsidies, accounting for 53% of total R&D subsidies. Misappropriation leads to a substantial...

La compatibilidad entre "copiar" tecnología y desarrollar tecnología local es un viejo pero siempre vigente debate económico en relación a las políticas de innovación. Partiendo de la pregunta del por qué y para qué es necesaria la innovación para el desarrollo productivo de los...

This research work develops a methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of two main sorts of innovation activities, Research and Development (R&D) and Inward Technology Transfer (ITT), or technological absorption in terms of incrementing innovation at firm levels. Using information provided by...

In evaluating the effectiveness of R&D subsidies, the literature has focused on potential crowding out effects, while the possibility of misappropriation of public funds that results from moral hazard behavior has been completely neglected. This study develops a theoretical framework with which...

We analyze a competitive research-oriented public program established in Spain, the Ramon yCajal Program, intended to offer contracts in public research centers to high-quality researchers.We study the effects of the Program on the ex-post scientific productivity of its recipients, relativeto...

This volume was prepared by Sebastian Benz while he was working at the Ifo Institute. It was completed in December 2013 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It includes five self-contained chapters. All chapters discuss different...

In this study, we consider R&D collaboration networks as a mechanism that modifies knowledge flows in space, and hence as another source of interaction among regional innovation processes. Our objective is to understand the relative role of spatial neighbors and network neighbors on patenting...

The knowledge production function, which has initially been suggested as a mean to measure of technological externalities, is extended here to the spatial dimension. After accounting for spatial autocorrelation, two interesting results are worth noting : 1) distance matters when it comes to...