Discussion Papers

Finnish university technology transfer is currently caught in the turbulences of major changes in the national innovation system. Three virtually simultaneous changes are of special importance. The first is the massive on-going renewal of the Universities Act governing the Finnish higher education system in its entirety. It was originally initiated to provide universities with more

This paper aims to provide an overview of the recently introduced demand based innovation policy instrument in Finland – the Strategic Centers for Science, Technology and Innovation (in Finnish – SHOKs). SHOKs are formed to support the innovative activities of existing industries in Finland with emphasis on industrial renewal through innovation. The focus in this

The economic profession has widely examined the effects of the pension system on economic efficiency, intergenerational fairness and the sustainability of public finances, while less attention has been paid to the political decision making process. Yet, the essence of the problem is arguably a political bias in decision making in favour of the interests of

Statistics Finland maintains a database which includes firm level data on public support in Finland. During this study it contained data from the years 2000–6. So far the data has been underutilized in economic and statistical analyses. We use the database in this descriptive study mainly to test the usability of the database. We analyze,

We examine the sources and micro-level mechanisms of the changes in the labor share of value added. We link the micro-level dynamics of the labor share change with that of productivity and wage growth. Using a useful variant of the decomposition method we make a distinction between the change in the average plant and the

We study the effect of new product introduction on firm value. Using a unique sample on mobile phone handset introduction by 16 major handset manufacturers over 10 years, we distinguish between imitative product introduction and truly innovative product introduction. We find that while most product introduction is imitative, both types of innovation increase firm value.