Finance And Technological Change: Theory And Evidence

Description:
`A pioneering and valuable study linking finance to innovative activity: not only is the theoretical framework sound, thought-provoking and creative, but amply supported through systematic empirical testing.' - David B. Audretsch, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung This book broadens the economic explanation of technological change, by assuming that development and diffusion of new technologies are closely related to the financial arrangements and institutions which prevail in any given historical period. To support his hypothesis, the author combines theoretical prescriptions with empirical evidence: the interdependences between technology and finance suggested in the first part of the book are therefore analysed from a historical perspective, and a theoretical model is then applied to explain how R&D is funded by new and already established firms in the data processing industry. The book concludes with a survey of policy interventions towards various sources of innovation financing.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements - PART 1: THEORY - The Role of Finance in Technological Change - The Legacy of Schumpeter, and the Limits of the Schumpeterian Approach in the Analysis of the Financing of Innovation - Technology and Finance in Economic Growth and Structural Change - Asset Specificity, R&D Financing, and the Signalling Properties of the Firm's Finance Structure - PART 2: EVIDENCE - The Long Term Dynamics of Financial and Technological Styles. How Close a Relationship? - The Structure of the Data Processing Industry in the 1980s and Early 1990s - The Financing of Innovative Activities in the Data Processing Industry - PART 3: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT - Public Policies towards the Financing of Innovative Activities - Conclusions and Synthesis of the Main Results - Bibliography - Index