Innovation theory Francesco Nicolli

Adam Smith An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations – 1776 He is not concerned on the creation of new invention/innovation but on the effect ofadoption of innovation (organisational and technological has on production) CREATION Vs ADOPTION

To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture; but one in which the division of labour has been very often taken notice of, the trade of the pin–maker; a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labour has rendered a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery employed in it (to the invention of which the same division of labour has probably given occasion), could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry, make one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of branches, of which the greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire, another straights it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on, is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them.

I have seen a small manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where some of them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But though they were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the necessary machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins in a day. There are in a pound upwards of four thousand pins of a middling size. Those ten persons, therefore, could make among them upwards of forty–eight thousand pins in a day. Each person, therefore, making a tenth part of forty–eight thousand pins, might be considered as making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day. But if they had all wrought separately and independently, and without any of them having been educated to this peculiar business, they certainly could not each of them have made twenty, perhaps not one pin in a day; that is, certainly, not the two hundred and fortieth, perhaps not the four thousand eight hundredth part of what they are at present capable of performing, in consequence of a proper division and combination of their different operations.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations As it is the power of exchanging that gives occasion to the division of labour, so the extent of this division must always be limited by the extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market. When the market is very small, no person can have any encouragement to dedicate himself entirely to one employment, for want of the power to exchange all that surplus part of the produce of his own labour, which is over and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men’s labour as he has occasion for.

David ricardo Principles of political Economy – 1817 Effect of technical change on employment Theory of compensation (the unemployment in one sector is more than compensated by the increase in employment in the innovative sector – the overall walfare increases)

Schumpeter JOSEPH ALOIS SCHUMPETER(1883-1950) He is the first author which discussed formally and specifically the innovation process Innovation: Main determinant of industrial dynamics (focus on dynamics, not on resource allocation) 1912 The Theory of Economic Development: An inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest and the business cycle 1942 Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Schumpeter (1) Difference between innovation and invention Invention: something mainly scientific or technological with no necessary economic application ≠ Innovation: something new for the economic system not necessarily related to an invention (think at smith pin example) Innovation is possible without invention Innovation is a creative response, completely different from adaptive responses Creative destruction

Schumpeter (2) Innovation and firm size Innovation in small firms (1912) vs Innovation in big burocratic firms (1942) In any case size is not a necessary or sufficient condition for innovation

Schumpeter (3) Innovation and profits Innovation and hystory Innovation generates profit and a temporary monopolistic position Such profits and such monopolistic position ceases if the innovative flow stops Innovation and hystory Innovation studies needs to adopt and historic perspective, considering that story is a source of knowledge on the mechanism behind the economic systems

Schumpeter (4) Innovation as a process with an uncertain outcome It can be understood only ex-post and never ex-ante (can you understand the difference?) Uncertainty has to do with radical innovation, but to some extent also to incremental innovation Entrepreneur with limited rationality

Schumpeter Mark I (1912) It is the first of the 2 pattern of innovation described by the author Represent the typical structure of firms at the end of the XIX century, in which several small firms were operating together. In such context firms tended to innovate in order to obtain temporary rent and gain additional share of the market. The entry in the market is very simple.

Schumpeter Mark II (1942) In this second approach he studies the typical industry of US manufacturing firms at the beginning of the XX century. In such context R&D expenditure and firms R&D department are foundamental, and R&D create important barrier to the market.

Which one prevail Depend on the technology analysed and on the specific industry life cycle (Klepper)

Empirical evidence – With patent data MARK I: low concentration among innovators; instability in innovators ranking; high entry in innovators market MARK II: high concentration in innovative activity; stable ranking of innovators; high size of innovators; low entrance of firms among innovators. Traditional sectors end to be MARK I, while chemistry and pharmaceutical, for instance, tend to be MARK II

Appropriability innovator's ability to capture profits generated by an innovation Ways to protect innovation: Patent: set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention. Temporary monopoly.

Secret of production (Smith) Temporary advantages Continuous innovation (Schumpeter) Post sale services or complentary assets