Louise C. Keely

Exchanging good ideas

Abstract This paper develops a framework to describe how the existence of technological spillovers leads to a distribution of technology clusters. Marshallian spillovers in this paper are assumed to be due to interaction of labor. The dynamics of cluster size, composition, and technology accumulation are characterized.

Using Patents in Growth Models

This paper argues that macroeconomic models of endogenous growth driven by technological change could be much improved by drawing lessons from the microeconomic literature of intellectual property design. Growth models use overly simplistic and sometimes incorrect assumptions regarding the intellectual property regime. Microeconomic theory and empirical work are reviewed to demonstrate that determining optimal intellectual property design is complex and has important implications for firm behavior and performance. Considering the question of intellectual property design in a dynamic general equilibrium model should yield important insights about how intellectual property impacts growth and welfare.

Comment on: People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes

Economists have recently become interested in the possible association of cultural factors with differences in economic performance across countries (for example, see Alesina et al., 2001, Barro and McCleary, 2002). The intuition underlying this interest is that there are mechanisms by which cultural traits of a group of people affect their aggregate economic outcome. The logic runs as follows: A cultural trait affects certain values or beliefs, and those beliefs in turn influence one’s economic decision-making and thus economic outcomes. This chain of causality may appear at an aggregate level, with a correlation between a society’s cultural traits and its economic performance. This paper is part of a new and growing literature, and uses a data set that economists are just starting to exploit, the World Values Survey (WVS) (Inglehart, 2000). The chain of logic just described is long, and establishing its relevance will require much work. Therefore, while the authors refer implicitly to this chain of causality as motivation for their study, the study itself only tackles one part of this chain. In particular, this study explores the correlation between the cultural traits of religious belief and practice, and a set of other beliefs that may correspond to certain economic decisions. The results are, at best, suggestive of causality, and certainly do not establish causality. The authors assert that they want to use intra-country heterogeneity in religious beliefs or practice in order to examine the hypothesis that there is something ‘intrinsic’ to certain religions that affects economic performance wherever practiced. The term ‘intrinsic’ implies that there should be an effect of religion on economic performance that is similar both across individuals, within and across countries, and over time.

Pursuing problems in growth

This paper explores the theoretical implications of Schmookler’s (1966) argument that a key determinant of technological change is the usefulness of new technologies. There is both historical and empirical support for his argument. The analysis implies that on-going growth depends delicately on a tension between uses for solutions to technological problems and the allocation of resources toward pursuing those solutions. Even alongside an endogenously increasing number of problems pursued, increasing research labor need not increase technology growth or per capita income growth. The results provide reconciliation of stylized facts regarding technological change and growth in the United States and Western Europe.