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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Can Policy Spur Technological Growth?, William Sargent Jun 2014

Can Policy Spur Technological Growth?, William Sargent

Honors Theses

The long-term slowdown in productivity growth for OECD countries, despite increased resources allocated to R&D, has once again raised the issue of limits of technological change. I explore the relationship between labor productivity growth and R&D intensity, using macro-level panel data from OECD countries. My empirical analysis essentially tests the semi-endogenous growth theory against the fully-endogenous Schumpeterian growth theory. The semi-endogenous framework assumes diminishing returns to R&D and requires positive population growth to generate long-run growth. The fully-endogenous framework assumes growing product variety and requires a constant share of R&D inputs in overall inputs in order to generate positive long-run …


Cost Benefit Analysis Of The Keystone Xl Pipeline, Daniel Carr Jun 2014

Cost Benefit Analysis Of The Keystone Xl Pipeline, Daniel Carr

Honors Theses

The Keystone XL pipeline is one of the most controversial topics in North America over the last five years. The debate is based on the trade‐off between Canadian oil sands as a usable energy resource and the environmental effects associated with the extraction and refining of the oil. The green house gasses emitted from the extraction and refining of oil sands produces several environmental concerns that make the proposed pipeline controversial. On the other hand, Canadian oil companies see a significant benefit from the ability of Canadian oil reaching international markets. TransCanada, a 79.99 percent owner of the pipeline, conducted …


Innovation And Finance: A Firm Level Analysis On Emerging Markets, Emily Zangrillo Jun 2014

Innovation And Finance: A Firm Level Analysis On Emerging Markets, Emily Zangrillo

Honors Theses

Economic theory suggests that the more financially constrained a firm, the lower its ability to allocate resources for innovation. I test this theory using firm-level survey data that covers 29 Eastern European and Central Asian countries. The survey is conducted in 2002, 2005, and 2009, and covers nearly 12,000 enterprises. I construct two baseline probit models to test the impact of financial constraints on firms’ ability to innovate a new product or upgrade an existing product. Existing literature suggests that the more financially constrained a firm, the less likely they are to innovate. Previous studies have also noted the reverse …