How can African nations boost their development through science, technology, and innovation? How does an organisation’s structure affect its behaviour? And what are the links between civil society and the improvement of migrant rights? These are just a few of the questions tackled by our researchers in April 2017 — in two books, three commissioned reports, three journal articles, and four working papers, among many others. Click here for the full list of our most recent publications.
Books
‘Chile’s Salmon Industry Policy Challenges in Managing Public Goods.’ This book is the first to analyse Chile’s salmon farming industry in discussing industrial development in terms of the management of public goods. The book highlights important aspects of learning and capacity development, environmental sustainability, institutions, and social welfare or inclusiveness. With aquaculture now providing almost half the global fish harvest, Chile’s salmon farming and processing industry stands out as a leader in the new ‘blue revolution’. Taking a holistic, historic approach to understanding the evolutionary development of the industry, the authors employ this strategy in the belief that policy discussions of economic activities have become highly segmented and often provide only a partial picture. Such segmentation is problematic for policy studies based on a complex web of interactions among numerous agents. The present volume untangles this web by considering the development of the Chilean salmon industry not only in holistic and historic terms but also from a socioeconomic point of view. The valuable book offers insightful lessons that can be applied to other natural resource-based sectors facing similar challenges in the course of development. By Dr. Michiko Iizuka (ed.) et al.
‘Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession.’ This volume extends and deepens our knowledge about cross-border mobility and its role in an enlarged EU. More specifically, its main purpose is to enlighten the growing and yet rather uninformed debate about the role of post-enlargement migration for economic adjustment in the crisis-stricken labour markets of the Eurozone and the EU as a whole. The book addresses the political economy aspects of post-enlargement migration, including its broader political contexts, redistributive impacts, but also nationalisation of the enlargement agenda. It also covers the experience of receiving and sending countries with post-enlargement migration and its role during the current crisis. Renowned experts in the field study whether and how post-enlargement mobility has enabled the EU to absorb asymmetric economic shocks, how it has affected the European welfare systems, and whether it has contributed to the sustainability of the Eurozone. The authors also evaluate brain circulation as a sought-after vehicle of improved allocative efficiency of EU labour markets and propose a policy agenda for mobility in an enlarged EU. By Dr. Martin Kahanec and Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann (eds.)
Commissioned reports
The ‘Africa Capacity Report 2017: Building Capacity in Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa’s Transformation‘ provides a framework for science, technology, and innovation (STI) development by focusing on the capacity dimensions in Africa. In particular, the report examines the status of STI, delving into initiatives, challenges, and capacity gaps for African countries, regional economic communities (RECs), the African Union (AU), and non-state actors to pursue STI-driven economic activities. By Dr. Samia Nour et al.
‘Intergovernmental Organizations, Migration and the Sustainable Development Goals‘ is part of a larger research study on how different structures affect the behaviour of organisations. Building on the work of Hall (2013, 2015) who differentiates between normative and functional organisations, this paper focuses on an additional area of difference between organisations (with a sole or partial focus on migration) to explore how different IGOs are discursively engaged – or not – with negotiations relating to the inclusion of migration in the SDGs. Early findings suggest that IGOs adopt different narrative strategies depending on their particular organisational characteristics. Future research will focus on organisations from outside of the UN system. By Elaine McGregor.
‘MOVEMENT: A Global Civil Society Report on Progress and Impact on Migrants’ Rights and Development: 2nd edition: 2017’. This second edition of the Movement Report is based on written input from 600 representatives of civil society active in migration and development around the world, as well as 20 in-depth interviews with civil society actors actively engaged at the regional and global level. A new feature in this edition is on proposing a methodology for defining and measuring progress via scorecards. By Elaine McGregor.
Journal articles
‘The Location of Multinational firms’ R&D Activities abroad: Host Country University Research and R&D Heterogeneity’ examines why multinational firms conduct R&D activities in host countries, paying specific attention to host countries’ university research. This article finds that the likelihood that firms conduct R&D in a host country is generally increasing in the strength of university research. Conditional on a firm’s R&D presence, university research strength is associated with a greater propensity to conduct (basic) research activities rather than (local) development, while the intensity of host country university–industry collaboration is most strongly associated with applied research. Host country experience and the depth of the firm’s manufacturing presence are also associated higher propensities to engage in research. By Prof. René Belderbos et al.
‘Does Spatial Ambidexterity Pay Off? On the benefits of geographic proximity between technology exploitation and exploration‘ develops and validates the concept of “spatial ambidexterity,” defined by the authors as the degree to which firms pursue technology exploration and exploitation in proximate locations. The article argues that both activities benefit from proximity as firms will increase their ability to enact cross-fertilisation opportunities and synergies between explorative and exploitative technological activities. The analysis confirms that firms exhibiting greater geographic proximity between technology exploration and exploitation activities display an elevated level of technological performance. Both technology activities of an explorative and exploitative nature appear to benefit from spatial proximity. By Prof. René Belderbos et al.
‘Firm Heterogeneity and Foreign R&D Locations of Multinational Firms‘ examines the influence of host countries’ scientific research strengths on global R&D location choices by multinational firms. The article finds that the strength of relevant university research positively affects the likelihood that host countries attract foreign R&D. When allowing for firm heterogeneity, university scientific research appears only a significant factor for firms with a strong science orientation in their R&D activities. Host countries’ corporate scientific research has no systematic influence on R&D location choices. Empirical results are replicated in an analysis at the regional level covering regions in Europe, the USA, and Japan. By Prof. René Belderbos et al.
Working papers
‘The Gender-Based Effects of Displacement: The Case of Congolese Refugees in Rwanda’. This paper looks across a range of indicators related to well-being that examine labour market participation, education, social networks, and security. In addition, it examines certain household-level measures concerning food insecurity, subjective poverty, and subjective economic situation. The study contributes to the existing literature by not only detailing differences in well-being between refugees and the local population along gender lines, but also by exploring variation in experiences among refugees themselves. It also pays particular attention to female-headed households, which are commonly recognised as having a high risk of vulnerability. By Dr. Özge Bilgili, Dr. Craig Loschmann and Prof. Melissa Siegel.
‘Innovation policy and labour productivity growth: Education, research and development, government effectiveness and business policy‘ examines the relationship between labour productivity growth in non-traditional sectors and “innovation policy” for a cross-section of countries. The authors show a significant positive effect of the interaction between government effectiveness and government expenditures in tertiary education as a percent of GDP on labour productivity growth in non-traditional sectors. In the case of developing countries, they observed a positive and significant relationship between the growth variable and effective research and development expenditures. The study was not able to uncover any relationship between other innovation policies and labour productivity growth. Non-traditional sector labour productivity growth in the oil rich Arabian Gulf countries was observed to be consistently slower than western countries. Higher oil prices appear to crowd-out innovation in oil-rich countries while stimulating innovation in oil importing countries. By PhD fellow Mueid Al Raee, Prof. Jo Ritzen et al.
‘Gender Gaps and Scientific Productivity in Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Mexico‘ provides evidence of the existence and determinants of the publication productivity gender gap in Mexico at the individual level, and its consequences for the Mexican scientific system and productivity at both the individual discipline and the aggregate levels. The study finds that the average female researcher in public universities is around 8% more productive than her male peers, with most of the observed productivity being explained by gender differentials in the propensity to have periods of no (or low) quality publication. Barriers to promotion to higher academic ranks are highest among females in public research centres. By Prof. Jacques Mairesse and PhD fellow Lorena Rivera Leon.
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