Knowledge Diffusion, Trade, and Innovation across Countries and Sectors

This paper provides a unified framework for quantifying the cross-country and cross-sector interactions among trade, innovation, and knowledge diffusion. This framework is used to study the effect of trade liberalization in an endogenous growth model in which comparative advantage and the stock of knowledge are determined by innovation and diffusion. The model is calibrated to match observed cross-country and cross-sector heterogeneity in production, innovation efficiency, and knowledge spillovers. The counterfactual analysis shows that a reduction in trade costs induces a reallocation of R&D and comparative advantage across sectors. Heterogeneous knowledge diffusion amplifies the specialization effects of trade-induced R&D reallocation, becoming an important source of welfare. (JEL F12, F14, O33, O34, O41)

Rise of the war machines: Charting the evolution of military technologies from the Neolithic to the Industrial Revolution

What have been the causes and consequences of technological evolution in world history? In particular, what propels innovation and diffusion of military technologies, details of which are comparatively well preserved and which are often seen as drivers of broad socio-cultural processes? Here we analyze the evolution of key military technologies in a sample of pre-industrial societies world-wide covering almost 10,000 years of history using Seshat: Global History Databank. We empirically test previously speculative theories that proposed world population size, connectivity between geographical areas of innovation and adoption, and critical enabling technological advances, such as iron metallurgy and horse riding, as central drivers of military technological evolution. We find that all of these factors are strong predictors of change in military technology, whereas state-level factors such as polity population, territorial size, or governance sophistication play no major role. We discuss how our approach can be extended to explore technological change more generally, and how our results carry important ramifications for understanding major drivers of evolution of social complexity.

Analisis Adopsi Inovasi Teknologi Informasi Menggunakan Innovation and Diffusion Theory (IDT) Pada PPDB Online SMKN 3 Gowa

SMKN 3 Gowa adalah salah satu sekolah yang sudah menerapkan teknologi informasi. Untuk memudahkan kinerja sekolah dalam pelayanan masyarakat, SMKN 3 Gowa mengadopsi sebuah inovasi proses Penerimaan Peserta Didik Baru (PPDB) secara online. Namun dalam pelaksanaannya masih banyak permasalahan yang dihadapi oleh user baik yang bersifat teknis maupun non teknis. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan evaluasi terhadap penerapan PPDB Online guna mengetahui seberapa baik sistem informasi dapat beroperasi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi pelaksanaan PPDB Online menggunakan Innovation and Diffusion Theory (IDT). Terdapat lima karakteristik yang digunakan sebagai kerangka umum faktor penentu diterimanya sebuah inovasi yaitu relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan diperoleh informasi bahwa dengan adanya penerapan teknologi informasi PPDB online menjadikan proses pendaftaran dalam menyaring nilai lebih transparan dan terpusat. Namun dalam menerapkan sistem informasi tersebut belum sepenuhnya berjalan dengan baik, masih ada berbagai kendala yang dihadapi di antaranya infrastruktur jaringan internet yang kurang memadai, kurangnya pengenalan dan pelatihan secara insentif dan kurang memperhatikan kebutuhan penggunaan terhadap sistem tersebut.

Importance of interaction between areas of knowledge and institutions in the development of a health innovation: a study of thematic area networks and institutional co-authorship networks in development of computed tomography (CT)

OBJECTIVE: To identify thematic area networks and institutional co-authorship networks in the initial development of the CT, to recognize their characteristics in order to demonstrate the importance of interaction in a health innovation. METHODS: The method proposed by the researchers at the University of Manchester and thematic area studies was used. The databases used were ISI-Web of Science (ISI-WoS) and SCOPUS. The pioneer article was located and the literature limited to subsequent years was systematically reviewed. Excel Node XL, Pajek wiki and Ucinet software were used for data processing. RESULTS: Thematic areas and institutional co-authorship networks were obtained in the early years of CT development. Multiple types of interactions are evident. CONCLUSION: The success of the process of invention, innovation and diffusion in the development of CT required the interaction of many disciplines (medicine, physics and engineering) and institutions (University hospitals, Universities, companies, Research centers and scientific communication media). The study of the thematic areas and SNA (Social Networks Analysis) allow to know the processes of invention and innovation and identify new fields of research.

Lead Isotope Analysis of Geological Native Copper: Implications for Archaeological Provenance Research in the North American Arctic and Subarctic

The Indigenous inhabitants of Arctic and Subarctic North America had been using native copper for several centuries prior to sustained interaction with Europeans beginning in the 18th century. The connection, if any, between the use of copper in these two adjacent regions is, at present, unclear. The ability to determine the source of native copper artifacts found in greater northwestern North America would inform on the movement of copper via trade and exchange between, and aid in understanding the innovation and diffusion of native copper metallurgy among, ancestral Dene and Inuit People. This paper provides the results of a Lead Isotope Analysis (LIA) pilot study examining Pb isotope ratios of native copper samples from multiple locations in the northern regions of North America. The results from this preliminary study indicate some overlap in Pb isotope ratios between Arctic and Subarctic sources of native copper, and these nonetheless record distinct isotope signatures relative to those associated with other North American native Cu deposits.

Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability

Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior—largely independent of each other. Here we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene–environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural sub-groups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature–nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.

Global Trends in the Innovation and Diffusion of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies

Increasing the development and diffusion of low-carbon technologies on a global scale is critical to mitigating climate change. Based on over two million patents from 1995 to 2017 from 106 countries in all major climate mitigation technologies, our analysis shows an annual average low-carbon patenting growth rate of 10 percent from 1995 to 2013. Yet, from 2013 to 2017 low-carbon patenting rates have fallen by around 6 percent annually, likely driven by declining fossil fuel prices and, possibly, a readjustment of investors’ expectations and a stagnation of public funding for green R&D after the financial crisis. The Paris Agreement does not appear to have reversed the negative trend in low-carbon patenting observed since 2013. Innovation is still highly concentrated, with Germany, Japan, and the US accounting for more than half of global inventions, and the top 10 countries for around 90%. This concentration has further intensified over the last decade. Except for China, emerging economies have not caught up and remain less specialised in low-carbon technologies than the world average. This underscores the need for more technology transfers to developing and emerging economies, where most of the future CO2-emissions increases are set to occur. Existing transfer mechanisms, such as the UN Technology Transfer Mechanism and the Clean Development Mechanism, appear insufficient given the slow progress of technology transfer.