Competition Effects and Industrial Productivity: Lessons from Japanese Industry

This study mainly investigates the causal relation between the degree of competition, which is measured by the Lerner index, and the total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate on the basis of the Japanese industry-level panel data from 1980 to 2008. While the main finding uncovers a positive effect of competition on the TFP growth rate in manufacturing industries throughout the sample period, 1980–2008, the observed effect for non-manufacturing industries at this time is slightly negative. This unique finding of a negative competition effect suggests that the Schumpeterian hypothesis may be applicable in non-manufacturing industries.

Productivity, institutions, and market beliefs: three entrepreneurial interpretations

Purpose Inspired by the debates among economists about the role of beliefs and informal institutions in economic development, the purpose of this paper is to derive and test different hypotheses about the ways beliefs about the market economy, institutions and policies, and productive entrepreneurship are intertwined. Design/methodology/approach The paper derives from the literature three hypotheses unified around the idea of (political, cultural, and market) entrepreneurship. The paper then tests these hypotheses by running various country-level regressions intended to check the relationships between formal institutions and policies (measured by World Governance Indicators and by the Economic Freedom of the World index), productive entrepreneurship (measured by total factor productivity form the Penn World Table), and different kinds of market beliefs from the World Values Survey (WVS). Findings The sociological hypothesis says that more pro-market beliefs provide incentives for innovation by recognizing entrepreneurship as a dignifying activity. The political hypothesis says that people with more pro-market beliefs will demand, and therefore live with, more pro-market institutions and policies. The “Schumpeterian” hypothesis says that it is market institutions that make it possible for entrepreneurs to run against anti-market beliefs, and innovate. The results support the Schumpeterian hypothesis, mainly because market beliefs predict institutions and policies as well as productivity very poorly, while formal institutions and policies make a much better job of this. Originality/value The paper contrasts three different hypotheses concerned with the broader consequences of political, cultural, and market entrepreneurship and tests them by making use of the time structure of the observations found in the WVS.

Tamanho das Empresas, Interação com Universidades e Inovação

Este artigo apresenta um exercício econométrico relacionado à hipótese schumpeteriana de que a tendência a inovar cresce com o tamanho da empresa para um conjunto específico de empresas que interagem com universidades e institutos de pesquisa. Os resultados sugerem que empresas grandes tendem a ser mais inovadoras que as micro e pequenas empresas quando se trata de inovações de produto. Entretanto, essa vantagem de tamanho não se verifica quando são tratadas inovações de processo.Firm Size, Interaction with Universities, and InnovationAbstract: This paper tests the schumpeterian hypothesis that innovation increases with firm size. The test is performed for a specific set of firms that interact withuniversities and research institutes. The results suggest that big firms tend to be more innovative in products than small ones. However, this advantage of firm size is not observed for process innovation.Key-words: firm size; innovation; university-firm interaction.JEL: L25.