PhD Scholarship Innovation and Market Selection: an Evolutionary Approach

CNRS-GREDEG, University of Nice – Sophia Antipolis, and Department for Research on Innovation and Competition (OFCE) – SciencesPo (France)

Description of the Subject: Aggregate productivity growth is the outcome of incumbent firms adopting new and superior techniques and (or) entering firms replacing exiting firms with better technologies. This research project will concern market selection mechanisms by characterising innovation as a process of selection (or acquisition) of more productive technologies within firms and a process of selection of firms itself. It will analyse both what happens inside the firms and what happens between firms on the market when firms are engaged in innovative or imitative processes. The first part of the research will be devoted to making a survey of empirical and theoretical analyses of industrial dynamics, which should focus on the relation between innovation and competition. The second part of the research will build a theoretical model of industrial dynamics in order to analyse rivalry and competition among heterogeneous firms. It will determine the market conditions that allow firms to capture productivity gains from past investments. These market conditions are critical to haracterising the dynamic equilibrium, similar to a so-called natural market structure. The third and last part will consist in developing an empirical analysis of the determinants of firms’ entry and exit, using French census data. In its conclusion, this research will address critical issues concerning the objectives and channels of industrial policies defined as policies that support development of firms and innovation

PhD Scholarships in Innovation and Market Selection (France) … read more »

This project evaluates the economic costs and benefits associated with alternative management practises of Genetically Modified (GM) crop technology.

Specific research questions relating to the following issues will be examined:

1. a comparison of the costs of co-existence accruing to conventional crop producers and the potential benefits accruing to GM adopting producers
2. factors affecting farmer’s attitudes to GM technology adoption and
3. consumer willingness to pay for GM versus non GM food end products. This study will provide valuable lessons for policy by deepening our understanding of the economics of co-existence of conventional and GM crop technology.

The PhD student will be based part-time at the Rural Economy Research Centre, Teagasc and the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Business Section, School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine at University College Dublin. There is also the possibility that the student may spend a semester at a US university collaborating with experts in the area of consumer willingness to pay studies in relation to GM technology.

PhD Studentship in Agricultural Economics, Teagasc & University College Dublin, Ireland … read more »