Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
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    Item type:Publication,
    Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Big Data
    The most important resource to improve technologies in the field of artificial intelligence is data. Two types of policies are crucial in this respect: privacy and data-sharing regulations, and the use of surveillance technologies for policing. Both types of policies vary substantially across countries and political regimes. This chapter examines how authoritarian and democratic political institutions can influence the quality of research in artificial intelligence, and the availability of large-scale datasets to improve and train deep learning algorithms. We focus mainly on the case of China, and find that – ceteris paribus – authoritarian political institutions continue to have a negative effect on innovation. They can, however, have a positive effect on research in deep learning, via the availability of large-scale datasets that have been obtained through government surveillance. We propose a research agenda to study which of the two effects might dominate in a race for leadership in artificial intelligence between countries with different political institutions, such as the United States and China.
    Report
    Band:
      312  677
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    Non-Renewable Resources in a Ramsey Economy with Subsistence Consumption, Human and Physical Capital Accumulation: A full Characterization
    (2019) ;
    Antony, Jürgen
    We investigate the question on how to use a non-renewable resources efficiently in the presence of a minimum subsistence level of consumption. In our model, households are characterized by Stone-Geary preferences and output is Cobb-Douglas using physical and human capital as well as resources as input factors. This setup gives rise to a six dimensional dynamic system with three control and three state variables. Despite this complexity, it is shown that a closed form solution exists in terms of the Gaussian hypergeometric function. The closed form solution allows us to calibrate the model to the situation of 108 countries using data from the World Bank on countries' endowments with physical capital and natural resources. We are able to quantify the implications of observed capital stocks for the growth perspective of each country. In particular, we analyze whether a level of subsistence consumption equivalent to the World Bank's poverty lines can be accomplished. Our calibration results also shed some light on what has been termed the "resource curse".
    journal article
      589  341
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    The response of CO2 emissions to the business cycle: New evidence for the U.S.
    This paper investigates the response of CO2 emissions to the business cycle for the U.S. on a monthly basis between 1973-2015. Using a rolling-regression approach, we find that the emissions elasticity with respect to GDP is not constant over time, irrespective which filtering method, such as the Hodrick-Prescott, the Baxter-King, the Christiano-Fitzgerald or the Butterworth filter has been employed. In order to check whether or not emissions react differently during normal and recession times, next, we employ a Markov-switching approach. We find, first, that emissions are significantly more elastic during recessions, than in normal times. Second, depending on the filtering method, we also obtain parameter estimates of the emissions elasticity above one in recession times and below one in normal times. Thus, environmental policy instruments not turning out to be sub-optimal should account for this asymmetric response of emissions due to changes in GDP.
    journal article
      678  478
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    Estimating the income inequality-health relationship for the United States between 1941 and 2015: Will the relevant frequencies please stand up?
    The income inequality hypothesis (IIH) predicts that income inequality itself is the major determinant of population health. A novel continuous wavelet approach allows us to directly estimate the association between health and income inequality for the U.S. between 1941 and 2015 simultaneously, at any frequency and time domain. After controlling for gender, aggregate income, governmental spendings on health and education, the paper finds, first, that the frequency domain is relevant for identifying any relationship between health and income inequality, but, second, the overall evidence for the IIH is weak. Only for the time span 1956-1993 and for long-run frequencies, we find that an increase of income inequality has adverse effects on health. We are not able to confirm the existence of the IIH for any other time periods at different frequencies, even not for the period of the recent financial crisis. Hence, the empirical confirmation of the IIH is the rare exemption rather than the rule and its existence, at least on an aggregate level, clearly depends on the frequency domain.
    journal article
      376  555
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    Knowledge transfer, transitional dynamics and optimal Research & Development policy in a dynamic monopoly setting
    (2020) ;
    Antony, Jürgen
    This paper focuses on the question whether or not a reduction of the knowledge barrier is good for welfare. Based on a dynamic monopoly setting with simultaneous investment decisions in process as well as in product Research & Development (R&D), we show that a reduction of the knowledge barrier has ambiguous welfare consequences: Due to a lower knowledge barrier, product quality and welfare increase in the short-run. However, this may not necessarily be the case in the long-run. One reason is that a positive long-lasting knowledge barrier shock triggers the monopolist to sub-optimally lower its product R&D investments today and in the future at the cost of future product quality. This in turn may reduce welfare. Accordingly, to realize the first-best level of product quality, the long-run optimal R&D subsidy rate for product innovations increase with a reduction of the knowledge barrier.
    journal article
      615  348
  • Some of the metrics are blocked by your 
    Item type:Publication,
    Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Big Data
    The most important resource to improve technologies in the field of artificial intelligence is data. Two types of policies are crucial in this respect: privacy and data-sharing regulations, and the use of surveillance technologies for policing. Both types of policies vary substantially across countries and political regimes. In this paper, we examine how authoritarian and democratic political institutions can influence the quality of research in artificial intelligence, and the availability of large-scale datasets to improve and train deep learning algorithms. We focus mainly on the Chinese case, and find that – ceteris paribus – authoritarian political institutions continue to have a negative effect on innovation. They can, however, have a positive effect on research in deep learning, via the availability of large-scale datasets that have been obtained through government surveillance. We propose a research agenda to study which of the two effects might dominate in a race for leadership in artificial intelligence between countries with different political institutions, such as the United States and China.
    Report
    Band:
      337  462
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    Item type:Publication,
    Creative class dynamics, technological evolution and growth
    This paper investigates the impact of creativity on technological advancement, long-term economic development, and social welfare, with creativity endogenously determined through interactions within social networks. We demonstrate that an economy remains stagnant, exhibiting neither networking nor long-term growth, when the size of the creative class falls below a certain positive threshold. Conversely, surpassing this threshold triggers active networking between creative and non-creative individuals, fostering sustained technological progress and income growth. We calibrate the model and simulate the economy’s transition from stagnation to dynamic growth. Although immediate welfare gains from transitioning to a growing economy are modest, medium- to long-term welfare improvements become substantial due to the cumulative effects of technological advancement facilitated by networking.
    Book
    Band:
      54  269
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    Fragile Robots, Economic Growth and Convergence
    (2022-03-25)
    Technological progress leads to the development of robots that are more error-prone and fragile than their predecessors. As a consequence, the utilization of the existing automation capital stock is associated with higher wear and tear, CPU overload or communication downtime and, as a consequence, an increase of depreciation costs. This in turn affect new investments in the future. Considering a growth model with physical and automation capital utilization, we argue that in a fully automated society, the utilized automation capital is a perfect substitute for labor, not the automation capital stock per se. We show that it is not necessarily the introduction of capital utilization by itself, but the relationship between the elasticities of utilization of automation and physical capital that plays a crucial role in slowing down the convergence speed in a model that reflects an automated society.
    journal article
    Band:
      362  605
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    Complementary Funding: How Location Links Crowdfunding and Venture Capital
    While Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) platforms are a virtual space for raising funds, geography remains relevant. To determine how location matters for entrepreneurs using equity crowdfunding (ECF), we analyze the spatial distribution of successful ECF campaigns and the spatial relationship between ECF campaigns and traditional investors, such as banks and venture capitalists (VCs). Using data from the two leading German platforms – Companisto and Seedmacht – we employ spatial eigenvalue filtering and negative binomial estimations. In addition, we introduce an event study based on the implementation of the Small Investor Protection Act in Germany allowing us to obtain causal evidence. Our combined analysis reveals a significant geographic concentration of successful ECF campaigns in some, but not all, dense areas. ECF campaigns tend to cluster in dense areas with VC activity, while they are less prevalent in dense areas with high banking activity, and are rarely found in rural areas. Thus, rather than closing the so-called regional funding gap, our results suggest that, from a spatial perspective, ECF fills the gap when firms in dense areas seek external financing below the minimum equity threshold offered by VCs and when there are few banks offering loans.
    Book
    Band:
      63  258