Ufuk Akcigit
Biographic Data
| ID | 5867693 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ufuk Akcigit |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ufuk |
| FAMILY NAME | Akcigit |
| SIGNATURE | AKCIGIT U |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre for Economic Policy Research |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8908-7645 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 89 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
A Year Older, A Year Wiser (and Farther from Frontier): Invention Rents and Human Capital Depreciation
We look at how the arrival of an invention affects wage returns and the probability of moving out of employment for white- and blue-collar co-workers of the inventor. First results suggest that older workers are hurt by the arrival of an invention. This negative effect disappears when we control for education and, in particular, for the time since obtaining the last formal degree, that is, distance to human capital frontier. If anything, this eff…
Klein Lecture Parental Education and Invention: The Finnish Enigma
Why is invention strongly positively correlated with parental income not only in the United States but also in Finland, which displays low income inequality and high social mobility? Using data on 1.45 M Finnish individuals and their parents, we find the following: (i) the positive association between parental income and off‐spring probability of inventing is greatly reduced when controlling for parental education; (ii) instrumenting for the pare…
What Happened to US Business Dynamism
We attempt to understand potential common forces behind rising market concentration and a slowdown in business dynamism in the US economy, through a micro-founded general equilibrium model of endogenous firm dynamics. The model captures the strategic behavior between competing firms, its effect on their innovation decisions, and the resulting "best-versus-the-rest" dynamics. We consider multiple potential mechanisms that can drive the observed ch…
Innovation, Reallocation, and Growth
We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A new and central economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using US Census microdata on firm-level output, R&D, and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output, and R&D. T…
Tax Simplicity and Heterogeneous Learning
Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations
Citation: Akcigit, Ufuk, and William R. Kerr. "Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations." Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 4 (August 2018): 1374–1443. \nPublisher's link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/697901 \nOther link where paper is available: https://www.nber.org/papers/w16443.pdf \nKeywords: Patents, Innovation Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth, Research and Development, Science
Economic Growth: The Past, the Present, and the Future
Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors
We study the effect of top tax rates on “superstar” inventors' international mobility since 1977, using panel data on inventors from the US and European Patent Offices. We exploit the differential impact of changes in top tax rates on inventors of different qualities. Superstar inventors' location choices are significantly affected by top tax rates. In our preferred specification, the elasticity to the net-of-tax rate of the number of domestic su…
Creative Destruction and Subjective Well-Being
In this paper we analyze the relationship between turnover-driven growth and subjective well-being. Our model of innovation-led growth and unemployment predicts that: (i) the effect of creative destruction on expected individual welfare should be unambiguously positive if we control for unemployment, less so if we do not; (ii) job creation has a positive and job destruction has a negative impact on well-being; (iii) job destruction has a less neg…
Transition to Clean Technology
We develop an endogenous growth model in which clean and dirty technologies compete in production. Research can be directed to either technology. If dirty technologies are more advanced, the transition to clean technology can be difficult. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow. We estimate the model using microdata from the US energy sector. …
Innovation and Top Income Inequality
Innovation and Top Income Inequality
In this article, we use cross-state panel and cross-U.S. commuting-zone data to look at the relationship between innovation, top income inequality and social mobility. We find positive correlations between measures of innovation and top income inequality. We also show that the correlations between innovation and broad measures of inequality are not significant. Next, using instrumental variable analysis, we argue that these correlations at least …
What Do We Learn from Schumpeterian Growth Theory
Optimal Capital Versus Labor Taxation with Innovation-Led Growth
Transition to Clean Technology
We develop an endogenous growth model in which clean and dirty technologies compete in production. Research can be directed to either technology. If dirty technologies are more advanced, the transition to clean technology can be difficult. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow. We estimate the model using microdata from the US energy sector. …
Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations
Citation: Akcigit, Ufuk, and William R. Kerr. "Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations." Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 4 (August 2018): 1374–1443. \nPublisher's link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/697901 \nOther link where paper is available: https://www.nber.org/papers/w16443.pdf \nKeywords: Patents, Innovation Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth, Research and Development, Science
What Happened to US Business Dynamism
We attempt to understand potential common forces behind rising market concentration and a slowdown in business dynamism in the US economy, through a micro-founded general equilibrium model of endogenous firm dynamics. The model captures the strategic behavior between competing firms, its effect on their innovation decisions, and the resulting "best-versus-the-rest" dynamics. We consider multiple potential mechanisms that can drive the observed ch…
Economic Growth: The Past, the Present, and the Future
What Do We Learn from Schumpeterian Growth Theory
Optimal Capital Versus Labor Taxation with Innovation-Led Growth
Innovation and Top Income Inequality
Innovation and Top Income Inequality
In this article, we use cross-state panel and cross-U.S. commuting-zone data to look at the relationship between innovation, top income inequality and social mobility. We find positive correlations between measures of innovation and top income inequality. We also show that the correlations between innovation and broad measures of inequality are not significant. Next, using instrumental variable analysis, we argue that these correlations at least …
Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors
We study the effect of top tax rates on “superstar” inventors' international mobility since 1977, using panel data on inventors from the US and European Patent Offices. We exploit the differential impact of changes in top tax rates on inventors of different qualities. Superstar inventors' location choices are significantly affected by top tax rates. In our preferred specification, the elasticity to the net-of-tax rate of the number of domestic su…
Creative Destruction and Subjective Well-Being
In this paper we analyze the relationship between turnover-driven growth and subjective well-being. Our model of innovation-led growth and unemployment predicts that: (i) the effect of creative destruction on expected individual welfare should be unambiguously positive if we control for unemployment, less so if we do not; (ii) job creation has a positive and job destruction has a negative impact on well-being; (iii) job destruction has a less neg…
Transition to Clean Technology
We develop an endogenous growth model in which clean and dirty technologies compete in production. Research can be directed to either technology. If dirty technologies are more advanced, the transition to clean technology can be difficult. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow. We estimate the model using microdata from the US energy sector. …
Economic Growth: The Past, the Present, and the Future
Innovation, Reallocation, and Growth
We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth, and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A new and central economic force is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using US Census microdata on firm-level output, R&D, and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output, and R&D. T…
Tax Simplicity and Heterogeneous Learning
Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations
Citation: Akcigit, Ufuk, and William R. Kerr. "Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations." Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 4 (August 2018): 1374–1443. \nPublisher's link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/697901 \nOther link where paper is available: https://www.nber.org/papers/w16443.pdf \nKeywords: Patents, Innovation Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth, Research and Development, Science
Klein Lecture Parental Education and Invention: The Finnish Enigma
Why is invention strongly positively correlated with parental income not only in the United States but also in Finland, which displays low income inequality and high social mobility? Using data on 1.45 M Finnish individuals and their parents, we find the following: (i) the positive association between parental income and off‐spring probability of inventing is greatly reduced when controlling for parental education; (ii) instrumenting for the pare…
What Happened to US Business Dynamism
We attempt to understand potential common forces behind rising market concentration and a slowdown in business dynamism in the US economy, through a micro-founded general equilibrium model of endogenous firm dynamics. The model captures the strategic behavior between competing firms, its effect on their innovation decisions, and the resulting "best-versus-the-rest" dynamics. We consider multiple potential mechanisms that can drive the observed ch…
A Year Older, A Year Wiser (and Farther from Frontier): Invention Rents and Human Capital Depreciation
We look at how the arrival of an invention affects wage returns and the probability of moving out of employment for white- and blue-collar co-workers of the inventor. First results suggest that older workers are hurt by the arrival of an invention. This negative effect disappears when we control for education and, in particular, for the time since obtaining the last formal degree, that is, distance to human capital frontier. If anything, this eff…
Economics (13 works) · Economic Growth and Productivity (10 works) · Labour economics (6 works) · Firm Innovation and Growth (5 works) · Microeconomics (5 works) · Demographic economics (4 works) · Innovation Policy and RD (4 works) · Macroeconomics (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Business (3 works)