This paper explains why capitalistic economies are restless by focusing on the role and the activities by entrepreneurs. The linkage between the entrepreneur and the economy is that as knowledge is a scarce resource, entrepreneurs must economize knowledge to reduce uncertainty if they are to...

In the aftermath of the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the employment effects of public subsidies have been scrutinized because of new emphasis on public accountability and transparency. In this paper, we investigate conditions in which public subsidies of...

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that determine the adoption of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Our case study of the city of Wiesbaden, Germany, is based on a geocoded data set of the grid-connected PV systems set up through 2009. We aim to determine whether the decision to...

This paper contributes to our understanding as to how the extent of prior use of a new technology may impact upon current additions to use. This paper is innovative first in placing emphasis upon intra-firm aspects of the diffusion process and second by integrating rivalry and spill-over effects...

This paper presents an analysis of whether a consumer's decision to switch from one mobile phone provider to another is driven by individual consumer characteristics or by actions of other consumers in her social network. Such consumption interdependences are estimated using a unique dataset,...

This paper contributes to the analysis of the persistence of innovation activities, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP), and explores its internal and external determinants stressing its path-dependent characteristics. The external conditions, namely the quality of local knowledge...

This paper discusses the effects of the real exchange rate (RER, defined as the price of the foreign currency in units of the domestic currency, adjusted by price levels) on the diversification and technological intensity of the export structure. Based on a North-South Ricardian model of trade...

In an essay written in honour of Peter Swann, it is second nature to discuss some aspects of the economics of innovation, as that is the very challenging area of economic life where he has added so much to our understanding. I will attempt to do this by posing the problem of how innovation fits...

This study investigates the differential effects of technological change on general human capital acquired through schooling and technology-specific human capital acquired through training based on a life-cycle human capital investment model. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of...