Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On Patenting, R & D And Technological Innovation, Na Cheng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The innovative activities by firms are considered to be the main driving force of the economic growth. The patent data has been widely used to investigate the relationship between R&D and patents which are taken as an output indicator of the new invention or innovation. On the other hand, empirical evidence supports that teamwork of inventors fosters innovation and technological progress. Motivated by the importance of understanding the patenting behavior of firms and collaboration of inventors, we exploit the continuing applications of patents, examine the R&D and patents relationship, and investigate the effects of teamwork on innovation output.

Three Essays On Scientists, Engineers, And Industrial R & D, Sifan Zhou

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The first chapter studies the effects of noncompetition agreements (NCA) on the mobility and compensation of doctoral degree recipients by analyzing the variation in the enforceability of these contracts across states and over time in the United States. I find that, for doctoral degree recipients who work in industry, stricter NCA enforcement decreases within-state job mobility, increases cross-state job mobility, and flattens salary growth. Freshly minted PhDs who work in states with tougher NCA enforcement earn lower starting salaries.

Essays On Firm-Level Dynamics Of Innovation, Hyuk Chung

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines firm level dynamics of innovation under financial constraints using a model with endogenous technological change by R&D and finance constraints. In addition, dynamic interactions of R&D investment and financial factors are analyzed empirically.

Selection Of Risk And Effort Levels Among Low-Stakes Players : A Case Study In Online Poker, Justin Weiss

Honors Theses

Firms pay workers using a variety of different pay structures. The structure that governs executive pay in many instances is a tournament pay structure. This paper examines the applicability of a tournament pay structure to lower wage workers by examining the effort and risk responses of players to tournament incentives and the role these responses play in determining the tournament’s outcome. Players from 19 different tournaments are observed on a hand by hand basis. It is found that players adjust effort and risk taking levels but only in response to certain incentives. This study finds evidence that tournaments are a …

An Analysis Of Tuition And Enrollment In Higher Education : Measuring Price Elasticity, Adam C. Wright

Honors Theses

The hierarchical nature of higher education, in which schools compete in small enclaves for the best students, and competition for higher rankings among private, non-profit liberal arts colleges has prompted some schools to drastically increase their tuition in order to correspond with the price changes of rival institutions. Since top liberal arts schools operate with sizable excess demand for enrollment spots, significant tuition alterations generally do not affect the quantity of enrolled students at these schools. However, the extent to which increases in tuition affect the quality of enrolled students has not been thoroughly examined. This study directly analyzes the …

Life Beyond Nuclear Testing The Nevada Test Site, Fina Martinez-Myers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Nevada Test Site (NTS) has served a crucial role in protecting the nation's security over the last 50 years. Changing national budgets and fiscal priorities have signaled dramatic adjustments for the NTS. Following the 1992 nuclear testing moratorium, the U.S. government has begun to make parts of the NTS available for private-sector use in an effort to generate money, utilize the Test Site's unique resources and capabilities, and provide economic development to southern Nevada. The initiative to attract private industry to the NTS is similar to activities taking place at other nuclear facilities across the nation. With a change …

The Impact Of Research And Development On Income And Employment In Utah, Thomas Clark Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research and development (R&D) play an increasingly important role in the economy of the United States. Total expenditures for R&D during the decade of the 1950's were greater than in the entire history of the United States previous to that time. As a percent of gross national product, R&D has grown from 0.2 percent in 1921, to 0.4 to 0.6 percent in the 1930's and 1940's, and is now more than 3 percent.¹

Much has been said of the impact that the growth of R&D has on the general economy. R&D had also had a significant economic and sociocultural …