This paper studies the economics behind the investment in information technologies (IT) by U.S. commercial banks in the past decade. By linking banks' IT spending to their lending technologies, we analyze the distinctive natures of banks' dealings with information across various lending...

We study how business taxes affect establishments' R&D activities. Relying on geocoded panel data targeting the universe of R&D-active establishments in Germany, we exploit around 7,300 changes in the local business tax rate over the period 1987-2013 for identification. Using event study...

Family firms are known for their reluctance to invest in research and development. We show that strengthened trade secret protection is associated with higher R&D investment by family firms. More specifically, we show that the association between the strength of trade secret protection through...

During the Covid 19 Pandemic, there have been countless calls for the creation of ''global public goods'' or ''global commons'' issued by a variety of actors with sometimes diametrically opposed views, as if the two notions had the same meaning. And indeed, even today these notions are still...

For those who follow health and technology news, it is difficult to go more than a few days without reading about a compelling new application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to health care. AI has myriad applications in medicine and its adjacent industries, with AI-driven tools already in use...

Studies show that when exports go up, innovation goes up as well. But what is the mediating effect of domestic institutions in the association between exports and innovation? If any, which institutions are more likely to improve exports and innovation in developing countries, and how? To address...

The existence of bitcoins and NFTs, and perhaps also the possibility of founding a company on a blockchain network, should have gotten around after 15 years. At present, software engineers continue to work on solutions in Web3, new business activities such as coin minting, blockchain...

We study the blocking effect of patents on follow-on innovation by others. We posit that follow-on innovation requires freedom to operate (FTO), which firms typically obtain through a license from the patentee holding the original innovation. Where licensing fails, follow-on innovation is...

The effect of market competition on firm innovation remains controversial, especially in the context of developing countries. This paper presents new empirical evidence about the causal impact of competition on firm innovation for Chilean and Colombian manufacturing firms. Using...