Benjamin K Sovacool, Marfuga Iskandarova, Frank W Geels
Industrial decarbonization and the net-zero climate strategy has arisen as one of the most important policy challenges of the modern era. But how do industrial decarbonization policy efforts link with other issues? The UK claims to be the first major economy in the world to posit a net-zero target. In this paper, drawn from an original qualitative dataset involving expert interviews (N = 46), site visits (N = 20), and a review of the literature, we explore ongoing policy windows and efforts to decarbonize both the Humber and Merseyside. These regions have aggressive implementation plans in place for the deployment of net-zero infrastructure, with Zero Carbon Humber and HyNet seeking billions of dollars of investment to build green and blue hydrogen facilities coupled with carbon storage networks. These two clusters are leading national net-zero ambitions, with actual, enforceable timetables to achieve decarbonization. Investigating the unfolding efforts being undertaken by these two regions to decarbonize industry offers insight into the “green gold rush” and nascent business opportunities in the so-called carbon economy, including large-scale investment of capital into the policies nominally designed to tackle climate change. Through the identification of 24 different issues linked to decarbonization, the paper also offers more conceptual depth into the interplay between policy windows and issue linkage, which coevolve and shape each other as net-zero ambitions solidify.
{"title":"Leading the post-industrial revolution? Policy windows, issue linkage and decarbonization dynamics in the UK’s net-zero strategy (2010–2022)","authors":"Benjamin K Sovacool, Marfuga Iskandarova, Frank W Geels","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae015","url":null,"abstract":"Industrial decarbonization and the net-zero climate strategy has arisen as one of the most important policy challenges of the modern era. But how do industrial decarbonization policy efforts link with other issues? The UK claims to be the first major economy in the world to posit a net-zero target. In this paper, drawn from an original qualitative dataset involving expert interviews (N = 46), site visits (N = 20), and a review of the literature, we explore ongoing policy windows and efforts to decarbonize both the Humber and Merseyside. These regions have aggressive implementation plans in place for the deployment of net-zero infrastructure, with Zero Carbon Humber and HyNet seeking billions of dollars of investment to build green and blue hydrogen facilities coupled with carbon storage networks. These two clusters are leading national net-zero ambitions, with actual, enforceable timetables to achieve decarbonization. Investigating the unfolding efforts being undertaken by these two regions to decarbonize industry offers insight into the “green gold rush” and nascent business opportunities in the so-called carbon economy, including large-scale investment of capital into the policies nominally designed to tackle climate change. Through the identification of 24 different issues linked to decarbonization, the paper also offers more conceptual depth into the interplay between policy windows and issue linkage, which coevolve and shape each other as net-zero ambitions solidify.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140627587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper constitutes a comparative assessment of the impact of robots on local labor markets across eight European countries. Doing so, we find that robots generally reduce employment in the manufacturing sector, while their impacts on total employment are more ambiguous. Though local markets experienced significant employment losses in Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom, we find no statistically significant impact of robots on employment in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Spain. Job losses were seemingly offset by employment gains in other sectors of the economy. We explore two mechanisms that might explain these patterns: differences in investment in complementary job-creating technologies and robot-induced reshoring. Our analysis provides some support for both mechanisms in elucidating the differential impacts of robots on jobs across space.
{"title":"Robots and reshoring: a comparative study of automation, trade, and employment in Europe","authors":"Chinchih Chen, Carl Benedikt Frey","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae012","url":null,"abstract":"This paper constitutes a comparative assessment of the impact of robots on local labor markets across eight European countries. Doing so, we find that robots generally reduce employment in the manufacturing sector, while their impacts on total employment are more ambiguous. Though local markets experienced significant employment losses in Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom, we find no statistically significant impact of robots on employment in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Spain. Job losses were seemingly offset by employment gains in other sectors of the economy. We explore two mechanisms that might explain these patterns: differences in investment in complementary job-creating technologies and robot-induced reshoring. Our analysis provides some support for both mechanisms in elucidating the differential impacts of robots on jobs across space.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140568852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Valerio Sterzi, Cecilia Maronero, Gianluca Orsatti, Andrea Vezzulli
This paper delves into the proliferation of non-practicing entities (NPEs), a hot topic in academia and public policy, especially in the United States. The common belief is that Europe is less exposed to NPEs due to a robust patent system, higher enforcement costs, and smaller damage awards. Yet, using a new database of NPE patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO), the study uncovers that NPEs activity in Europe is arising: they own nearly 20,000 EPO patents, primarily in Electrical Engineering. Moreover, we contribute the literature investigating the heterogeneity of the NPE business model and its relationship with the characteristics and use of the patents they target. Our econometric analysis provides threefold original evidence. First, NPEs with higher propensity for litigation (i.e., “Litigation” NPEs) acquire patents with higher infringement risk but similar technological quality than practicing entities. Second, patent aggregators (i.e., “Portfolio” NPEs) and technology companies (i.e., “Technology” NPEs) acquire higher-quality patents compared to those acquired by practicing entities. Third, patent acquisitions by “Litigation” NPEs and “Portfolio” NPEs reduce the subsequent use of protected technologies.
{"title":"Non-practicing entities in Europe: an empirical analysis of patent acquisitions at the European Patent Office","authors":"Valerio Sterzi, Cecilia Maronero, Gianluca Orsatti, Andrea Vezzulli","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae010","url":null,"abstract":"This paper delves into the proliferation of non-practicing entities (NPEs), a hot topic in academia and public policy, especially in the United States. The common belief is that Europe is less exposed to NPEs due to a robust patent system, higher enforcement costs, and smaller damage awards. Yet, using a new database of NPE patent applications at the European Patent Office (EPO), the study uncovers that NPEs activity in Europe is arising: they own nearly 20,000 EPO patents, primarily in Electrical Engineering. Moreover, we contribute the literature investigating the heterogeneity of the NPE business model and its relationship with the characteristics and use of the patents they target. Our econometric analysis provides threefold original evidence. First, NPEs with higher propensity for litigation (i.e., “Litigation” NPEs) acquire patents with higher infringement risk but similar technological quality than practicing entities. Second, patent aggregators (i.e., “Portfolio” NPEs) and technology companies (i.e., “Technology” NPEs) acquire higher-quality patents compared to those acquired by practicing entities. Third, patent acquisitions by “Litigation” NPEs and “Portfolio” NPEs reduce the subsequent use of protected technologies.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140204536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We provide an econometric study of the adoption of internet banking, a case of a potentially disruptive digital technology which could devalue/replace an incumbent legacy. Our aim is to better understand the extent to which it disrupted the market structure where incumbents start with a strong customer base. We study both regional integration and national concentration dimensions of market structure in EU member states during the period of 1997–2018. We find that internet banking was initially introduced earlier in more concentrated markets. Although consumer uptake was slower over time than in less concentrated markets, the initial higher consumer penetration in more concentrated markets was sustained until market maturity. We further find a substantial de-concentrating effect of internet banking, and evidence of integration in previously regionalized markets following uptake.
{"title":"Digital disruption and market structure: the case of internet banking","authors":"Bruce Lyons, Minyan Zhu","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae013","url":null,"abstract":"We provide an econometric study of the adoption of internet banking, a case of a potentially disruptive digital technology which could devalue/replace an incumbent legacy. Our aim is to better understand the extent to which it disrupted the market structure where incumbents start with a strong customer base. We study both regional integration and national concentration dimensions of market structure in EU member states during the period of 1997–2018. We find that internet banking was initially introduced earlier in more concentrated markets. Although consumer uptake was slower over time than in less concentrated markets, the initial higher consumer penetration in more concentrated markets was sustained until market maturity. We further find a substantial de-concentrating effect of internet banking, and evidence of integration in previously regionalized markets following uptake.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"259 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140205278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrea Bassanini, Eve Caroli, Kevin Geay, Antoine Reberioux
We develop a theory of non-monetary costs incurred by chief executive officers (CEOs) when deciding about layoffs and test its predictions on French data. Our results support the idea that, being embedded in their social environment, CEOs find it more difficult to fire employees closer to their own workplace. This effect is stronger whenever social interactions are less anonymous in the CEOs’ local environment. It is weaker when CEOs live further away from where they work, because of limited exposure to local discontent.
{"title":"Heavy is the crown: CEOs’ social interactions and layoff decisions","authors":"Andrea Bassanini, Eve Caroli, Kevin Geay, Antoine Reberioux","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae009","url":null,"abstract":"We develop a theory of non-monetary costs incurred by chief executive officers (CEOs) when deciding about layoffs and test its predictions on French data. Our results support the idea that, being embedded in their social environment, CEOs find it more difficult to fire employees closer to their own workplace. This effect is stronger whenever social interactions are less anonymous in the CEOs’ local environment. It is weaker when CEOs live further away from where they work, because of limited exposure to local discontent.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140047827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper studies the impact of participation in global value chains (GVCs) on innovation in Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We find that the Vietnamese SMEs that participate in GVCs are more likely to introduce product innovation. We also show that the likelihood of introducing product innovation for firms that participate in GVCs increases when they invest in intangible assets. These findings qualify the learning-by-participating model in GVCs by showing that the gains from GVC participation depend on a firm’s internal absorptive capacities.
{"title":"Intangible assets, global value chains, and innovation: evidence from Vietnamese SMEs","authors":"Hung Quang Doan, Francesca Masciarelli, Valentina Meliciani","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae011","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies the impact of participation in global value chains (GVCs) on innovation in Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We find that the Vietnamese SMEs that participate in GVCs are more likely to introduce product innovation. We also show that the likelihood of introducing product innovation for firms that participate in GVCs increases when they invest in intangible assets. These findings qualify the learning-by-participating model in GVCs by showing that the gains from GVC participation depend on a firm’s internal absorptive capacities.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"268 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140035494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucrezia Fanti, Marcelo C Pereira, Maria Enrica Virgillito
Drawing upon the labour-augmented K+S Agent-Based Model (ABM), this paper develops a two-country North-South ABM wherein the leader and the laggard country interact through the international trade of machines. The model aims to address sources of asymmetries and possible converge patterns between two economies belonging to a currency union, that are initially differentiated only in terms of the education level they are able to ensure. Education is modeled as a macro-level public policy differently targeting three levels, that is primary, secondary and tertiary. After being educated, when workers enter the labour force, they face a segmented labour market, divided into three types of qualifications and resulting functions deployed inside firms, i.e., basic, medium and advanced occupations. The three markets are heterogeneous in terms of both requested education level and minimum offered wage. We experiment with different education and trade settings. Ultimately, we are interested in understanding the coupling effects of asymmetries in education, which reverberate in segmented labour markets and differentiated growth patterns. Notably, our focus on capital-goods trade, rather than on consumption goods, allows us to investigate a direct link between productive capabilities in complex products and country growth prospects.
{"title":"A North-South Agent–Based Model of segmented labor markets: the role of education and trade asymmetries","authors":"Lucrezia Fanti, Marcelo C Pereira, Maria Enrica Virgillito","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae007","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing upon the labour-augmented K+S Agent-Based Model (ABM), this paper develops a two-country North-South ABM wherein the leader and the laggard country interact through the international trade of machines. The model aims to address sources of asymmetries and possible converge patterns between two economies belonging to a currency union, that are initially differentiated only in terms of the education level they are able to ensure. Education is modeled as a macro-level public policy differently targeting three levels, that is primary, secondary and tertiary. After being educated, when workers enter the labour force, they face a segmented labour market, divided into three types of qualifications and resulting functions deployed inside firms, i.e., basic, medium and advanced occupations. The three markets are heterogeneous in terms of both requested education level and minimum offered wage. We experiment with different education and trade settings. Ultimately, we are interested in understanding the coupling effects of asymmetries in education, which reverberate in segmented labour markets and differentiated growth patterns. Notably, our focus on capital-goods trade, rather than on consumption goods, allows us to investigate a direct link between productive capabilities in complex products and country growth prospects.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140035495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In low- and middle-income economies, consumption preferences are hierarchical and the production structure is dualistic. Wage demand correspondingly articulates with the domestic industrial sector in a limited fashion. Where capital accumulation is directed at this modern/industrial sector, downward redistributions are less expansionary than commonly outlined, even if capacity utilization is an adjusting variable influencing investment decisions. Insofar as economic development is underpinned by structural transformation, policies aligned with downward redistributions have important sectoral ramifications neglected in one-sector frameworks. This paper explores these and related propositions formally, drawing from the analysis of a two-sector growth and distribution model.
{"title":"Hierarchical consumption preferences, redistribution, and structural transformation","authors":"Adam Aboobaker","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae004","url":null,"abstract":"In low- and middle-income economies, consumption preferences are hierarchical and the production structure is dualistic. Wage demand correspondingly articulates with the domestic industrial sector in a limited fashion. Where capital accumulation is directed at this modern/industrial sector, downward redistributions are less expansionary than commonly outlined, even if capacity utilization is an adjusting variable influencing investment decisions. Insofar as economic development is underpinned by structural transformation, policies aligned with downward redistributions have important sectoral ramifications neglected in one-sector frameworks. This paper explores these and related propositions formally, drawing from the analysis of a two-sector growth and distribution model.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139924144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evidence suggests that sovereign debt markets are not featured by perfect competition but power dynamics are a key determinant of market outcomes such as ex-post returns on sovereign bonds. In such environment, coordination within each side of the market matters. With the purpose of influencing the international debt architecture, private creditors have historically been fairly coordinated and their interests more aligned ex-ante. Sovereign debtors, however, have not. The power asymmetry that that entails has equity and efficiency implications, both ex-ante and ex-post. This paper analyzes asymmetries in collective action of each side of the sovereign debt market and the mechanisms through which it affects market outcomes. It also analyses the Cartagena Group’s experience in the 1980s as a prominent historical case of greater borrower coordination and identifies mechanisms through which greater debtor coordination could be fostered.
{"title":"Power in sovereign debt markets: debtors’ coordination for more competitive outcomes","authors":"Martin Guzman, Maia Colodenco, Wiedenbrug Anahí","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae008","url":null,"abstract":"Evidence suggests that sovereign debt markets are not featured by perfect competition but power dynamics are a key determinant of market outcomes such as ex-post returns on sovereign bonds. In such environment, coordination within each side of the market matters. With the purpose of influencing the international debt architecture, private creditors have historically been fairly coordinated and their interests more aligned ex-ante. Sovereign debtors, however, have not. The power asymmetry that that entails has equity and efficiency implications, both ex-ante and ex-post. This paper analyzes asymmetries in collective action of each side of the sovereign debt market and the mechanisms through which it affects market outcomes. It also analyses the Cartagena Group’s experience in the 1980s as a prominent historical case of greater borrower coordination and identifies mechanisms through which greater debtor coordination could be fostered.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139645046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fabrizio Fusillo, Silvia Nenci, Carlo Pietrobelli, Francesco Quatraro
Although evolutionary economics has extensively analyzed the evolution of industries in relation to innovation and technology lifecycles, the interplay between industry lifecycles and evolutionary patterns of knowledge networks has not been fully explored yet. This work aims to bridge this gap by analyzing the co-evolutionary patterns of knowledge and trade flows in the mining industry, using social network tools in combination with the Schumpeterian tradition of analysis. The study focuses on three Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, and Peru, where the mining sector plays a significant role in the economy, particularly in the context of energy and digital transitions. Our findings suggest that the innovation network and the global value chain-trade network display divergent co-evolutionary patterns; while the former tends to be stable and concentrated, the latter shows increasing fragmentation and turbulence. The analysis also shows remarkable evolutionary evidence at the country level.
{"title":"Co-evolutionary patterns of GVC-trade and knowledge flows in the mining industry: evidence from Latin America","authors":"Fabrizio Fusillo, Silvia Nenci, Carlo Pietrobelli, Francesco Quatraro","doi":"10.1093/icc/dtae002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtae002","url":null,"abstract":"Although evolutionary economics has extensively analyzed the evolution of industries in relation to innovation and technology lifecycles, the interplay between industry lifecycles and evolutionary patterns of knowledge networks has not been fully explored yet. This work aims to bridge this gap by analyzing the co-evolutionary patterns of knowledge and trade flows in the mining industry, using social network tools in combination with the Schumpeterian tradition of analysis. The study focuses on three Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, and Peru, where the mining sector plays a significant role in the economy, particularly in the context of energy and digital transitions. Our findings suggest that the innovation network and the global value chain-trade network display divergent co-evolutionary patterns; while the former tends to be stable and concentrated, the latter shows increasing fragmentation and turbulence. The analysis also shows remarkable evolutionary evidence at the country level.","PeriodicalId":48243,"journal":{"name":"Industrial and Corporate Change","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139645179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}