Search

Begin New Search Topic Development Political Geography Europe

451. Lovely but dangerous: The impact of patent citations on patent duration

Author:
Per Botolf Maurseth
Publication Date:
03-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
What is the impact of patent citations on patent renewal behaviour? Patent citations are commonly used as an indicator of technology spillovers. For cited patents therefore, patent citations have a potentially ambiguous impact. On the one hand, patent citations may indicate a scientific breakthrough, a high value of the cited patent and therefore a long survival period. On the other hand, patent citations may indicate competing innovations that render the cited patent obsolete. By discriminating patents by technology field, it is demonstrated that patents that receive citations across technology fields survive longer than other patents. Patents that receive citations within the same technology field lapse earlier.
Topic:
Development, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe

452. Recent Advances in Growth Theory. A Comparison of Neoclassical and Evolutionary Perspectives

Author:
Per Botolf Maurseth
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Research on economic growth has experienced remarkable progress the last decade. The neoclassical perspective has benefited from development of new mathematical methods and new approaches to market structure, economics of scale and spillover effects. At the same time evolutionary theories on economic development have appeared, partly competing but also complementary to neoclassical theorising. In this paper, the development of the two perspectives on economic growth is reviewed and they are compared with each other. Despite evident differences there seems to be convergence between the two traditions. The two perspectives therefore do not belong to different paradigms in the Kuhnian sense and they can hardly be categorised as two isolated research programmes in the sense of Imre Lakatos. Evolutionary and neoclassical growth economics draw inspiration from similar sources, they are overlapping and to some extent complementary. The two traditions also interact with each other.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe

453. Urban and Industrial Pollution Programs: Russia Case Study

Author:
Matthew Addison, Mark Hodges, Steven Gale, and Nick Wedeman
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
Since the official dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has moved forward to make the difficult transition to open markets and more democratic institutions. The journey toward a complete restructuring of the Russian economy and an adoption of wide-ranging political reforms has been perilous. Political instability continues, crime and corruption have become more widespread, and economic conditions show little sign of improving quickly. Efforts to privatize state-held industries, initially seen as wildly successful, have now met with resistance, and full citizen involvement in government is far from complete.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Environment, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

454. Fifteen Years On: Spanish Membership in the European Union Revisited

Author:
Charles Powell
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper attempts to describe and account for the major changes undergone by Spain as an EU player since her accession in 1986. Many analysts appear to have espoused the view that most if not all of these can be attributed to the fact that, following the 1996 general election, a decidedly pro-integrationist Felipe González was replaced as prime minister by a vaguely eurosceptical José María Aznar. Undoubtedly, ideological considerations (and, more importantly perhaps, differences in political culture) must be taken into account when examining the evolution of Spain's European policy over the past fifteen years. However, this paper will argue that changing policy styles and contents should be understood in terms of both the learning process undergone by all new member states as they mature, and the need to adapt and respond to developments within the EU, most notably the evolution of the European integration process itself.
Topic:
Development and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Europe

455. The Russian Press in the Post-Soviet Era: A Case Study of Izvestia

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The progress of the Russian press in the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras can be described (with apologies to Vladimir Lenin) as "two steps forward, on step back." The flowering of glasnost (openness) under Mikhail Gorbachev le to a "golden age" of Soviet journalism, including an explosion of new publications and a lifting of nearly all state restrictions on journalists' professional activities. However, the collapse of the USSR and the onset of material crisis in 1991-92 quickly produced a winnowing of the press and a retrenchment on the part of surviving publications. At the same time, powerful new forces - especially oligarchs and regional and leaders - arose to vie with the state for influence over post-Soviet media. This paper explores the trajectory of one of the leading newspapers of the Soviet and post-Soviet period, Izvestia, in the light of those broader trends. While Izvestia emerged from the ashes of Soviet communism with formal control over its material plant and journalistic collective, it was soon subjected to a tug-of-war between powerful actors determined to control its destiny - first the Communist-dominated Duma (parliament), and then large corporations and business oligarchs. The struggle led, in 1997, to the dismissal of the paper's editor. Oleg Golembiovsky, and the departure of many staff to form Novye Izvestia (New Izvestia) - though this publication too, was also unwilling or unable to avoid the temptations of a close alliance with one of the leading oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky. The findings are place in the broader comparative context of the press in transition, based on the author's research into process of media liberalization and transition worldwide.
Topic:
Cold War, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

456. Technology Parks - Concept and Organization

Author:
Rado Petkov, Rick Petree, and Eugene Spiro
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
This study presents a conceptual and organizational framework for establishing a pilot technology park and incubator in Bulgaria. Such a park might initially focus on the telecommunication and information technology (IT) sector (including software development), where the country displays strong, albeit under-utilized, technical talent. The park might encompass an export-oriented IT service firm and an incubator that will nurture hi-tech companies and help them commercialize innovative ideas and technologies. The study presents the experience of leading technology parks and incubators in the U.S., Israel, India and elsewhere and draws upon an on-going project of the Institute for EastWest Studies to establish a technology incubator in Budapest. The purpose of the paper is to identify the existing models of technology parks and to suggest organizational, legal and management solutions that can be applied in Bulgaria.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Bulgaria

457. Banking and Finance Assistance

Author:
Eugene Spiro
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The Banking and Finance Assistance Centre (BFAC) of the East West Institute is an independent, international centre whose mission is to provide assistance to financial sector leaders in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU). BFAC was established in 1992 by the East West Institute in response to the need expressed by bank executives and finance officials in CEE for a centre to provide impartial, professional, technical advice and assistance in the course of designing and implementing reform initiatives. Supported, among others, by the EWI network and in particular the United States Agency for International Development, BFAC's projects also cover capital markets and pension reform and small- and medium-sized enterprise development.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Eastern Europe

458. Kosovo/a Standing Technical Working Group: 5th and 6th Session Economic Development and Reconstruction

Author:
Robert Curis and Camille Monteux
Publication Date:
10-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
The Standing Technical Working Group was established in March 2001 to address important issues of public policy in Kosovo/a at a technical level. It is composed of experts from Kosovo/a NGOs, from the parties and other civil society representatives. Its membership is fully interethnic and it prides itself on being able to conduct substantive debates about Kosovo/a in an interethnic way. In addition to reviewing technical aspects of policy, the group also formulates proposals and critical questions in relation to them. It then seeks to engage the international and Kosovo/a authorities on these issues. As the 5th and 6th session of the group were devoted to one common theme, it was found convenient to present the proceedings in one report.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe

459. Negotiation and Capacity Building in Montenegro, Workshop 1: Education and Curriculum Development

Author:
Florian Bieber
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
The ECMI project “Montenegro Negotiation and Capacity Building” was launched with the aim to establish a Track II informal negotiation process providing a forum for interethnic dialogue between the Serbian and Montenegrin communities, which includes minority communities from the Sandzak border region. Through a series of workshops, the project aims to help promote dialogue, identify issues of common concern and assist in delivering concrete benefits as well as building confidence between the communities involved. By focusing the debate on the concrete needs of these communities, the project seeks to facilitate thinking about future interethnic relations in a less charged atmosphere, irrespective of the deeper political questions on the future constitutional arrangements of the two republics.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

460. Kosovo/a Standing Technical Working Group, Fourth Meeting: Review of Activities

Author:
Graham Holliday and Camille Monteux
Publication Date:
09-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
After a preliminary sketch of the overall aims of the project and the objective of the weekend's deliberations, the fourth meeting of the STWG was formally declared open. The first session was chaired by Dr Gylnaze Syla, who had also chaired an earlier plenary meeting of the Group and convened the Steering Committees on Health. The first session sought to re-examine questions pertaining to civil registration in Kosovo/a and, specifically, to address issue areas that had been highlighted by the Group in its constitutive session in March (identity documentation; registration of births, deaths and marriages; and vehicle registration).
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Education, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe