Research Frontier

The core mission of WPZ is to provide economic policy advice based on rigorous empirical evidence and cutting edge theoretical research. To promote the knowledge transfer from the frontier of academic research to policy advice, we invite leading academics from international elite universities to summarize policy relevant insights of their empirical and theoretical research agenda.

The core mission of WPZ is to provide economic policy advice based on rigorous empirical evidence and cutting edge theoretical research. To promote the knowledge transfer from the frontier of academic research to policy advice, we invite leading academics from international elite universities to summarize policy relevant insights of their empirical and theoretical research agenda.

MOVING TO THE INNOVATION FRONTIER

When approaching the knowledge frontier, an economy’s capacity to innovate must shift from imitation and differentiation towards more radical and more risky innovations that aim at entirely new products and services. To explore the policy consequences, the eBook „Moving to the Innovation Frontier“, edited by Christian Keuschnigg for the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, collects the first five essays of the series WPZ Research Frontier and is available here.

FINANCE, CAPITAL REALLOCATION AND GROWTH

Innovation by creative destruction causes structural change. Banks and capital markets must reallocate credit and risk capital from firms with low profitability and downsizing sectors to fast growing innovative companies in expanding industries. Find more information including a Video on the scientific workshop organized jointly with CEPR here. The Keynote Lectures are documented in the WPZ series Research Frontier no. 6, 8 and 9, and are published in the special issue of the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, available here.

OPEN ACCESS GOVERNMENT

Financing the Green Transformation

The role of finance is key to an efficient green transformation, needing a large-scale reallocation of capital and labour. Learn more in the article and on the platform Open Access Government.

From Basic Research to Private Innovation

What’s the return on basic research spending? What can policy makers do to make basic research more valuable, beyond simply spending more taxpayer money? And what role will private innovation have? Read the article on Open Access Government.

The Role of Finance in Creative Destruction

Innovation drives growth but creative destruction can raise productivity only if capital and labour are reallocated. Learn more about the role of venture capitalists, private equity and banks in the article and on the platform.

Financing Recovery and Growth

Credit reallocation of banks boosts innovation and growth by steering capital to more productive use. Read the article on the platform Open Access Government.

EU RESEARCH

Banks and Creative Destruction in the Modern Economy

Banks play a crucial role in financing the European business sector, extending loans to profitable companies to fund productive activities, while also withdrawing credit from less well performing firms. Read the article about a WPZ research project on banking and innovative growth in the EU’s research magazine.

VoxEU – CEPR POLICY PORTAL

VoxEU is the leading European platform for research based policy contributions. With our contributions to VoxEU we present our own basic research and reach out to the European wide policy community.

Trade and innovation: The Schumpeterian role of Banks
Christian Keuschnigg and Michael Kogler, University of St. Gallen and WPZ
Only strong banks can fulfil their Schumpeterian role by efficiently reallocating credit from declining to expanding firms. An efficient banking sector thereby magnifies the gains from trade liberalisation by easing the process of capital reallocation.
VoxEU, 04.03.2019

The heterogeneous tax sensitivity of firm-level investments: European evidence
Peter Egger and Katharina Erhardt, ETH-Zürich, and Christian Keuschnigg, University of St. Gallen
The impact of corporate taxation is up to 70% higher for entrepreneurial firms than for managerial ones. Policy should provide targeted tax relief to the most constrained firms, where taxes are most harmful, if other policies are unsuccessful in improving access to external funds.
VoxEU, 25.02.2019

Moving to the Innovation Frontier
Christian Keuschnigg, University of St. Gallen and WPZ
Innovation drives growth, determines the competitive position of firms, and leads to factor reallocation. Firms must implement more risky innovations as the economy approaches the technological frontier. Priority should be given to research, selection of firms, and reducing frictions.
VoxEU, 22.03.2016

No. 12: Financial Literacy and the Need for Financial Education: Evidence and Implications
PDF, Overview (German), 05.12.2018, Annamaria Lusardi
Denit Trust Chair of Economics & Accountancy, George Washington University

No. 11: The Future of the Euro
PDF, 05.02.2018, Paul De Grauwe
John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy, London School of Economics
Yuemei Ji, Lecturer in Economics, University College London

No. 10: Fiscal Federalism: A Canadian Experience
PDF, 22.05.2017, Robin Boadway
David C. Smith Professor of Economics Emeritus, Queen’s University

No. 9: Macroprudential Policy and Credit Supply
PDF, published, 15.08.2016, José-Luis Peydro
ICREA Professor of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, CREI, Barcelona GSE

No. 8: Capital Markets Union in Europe. Why other Unions must lead the way
PDF, published, 15.08.2016, Viral V. Acharya and Sascha Steffen
Acharya: C.V. Starr Professor of Economics, New York University
Steffen: Professor of Finance, University of Mannheim

No. 7: Tax Reform in an Era of Budget Stress, Inequality, and International Mobility
PDF, 15.06.2016, Alan J. Auerbach
Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law at University of California at Berkeley

No. 6: Capital and Labor Reallocation Within Firms
PDF, published, 08.04.2016, Holger Müller
Nomura Professor of Finance, Stern School of Business, New York University

No. 5: Patent Rights and Cumulative Innovation: Causal Evidence and Policy Implications
PDF, 22.03.2016, Mark Schankerman
Professor of Economics, London School of Economics

No. 4: Regional Variation in Venture Capital: Causes and Consequences
PDF, 22.03.2016, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
Nanda: Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Rhodes-Kropf: Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

No. 3: Innovation and Business Growth
PDF, 22.03.2016, William R. Kerr
Professor of Entrepreneurial Management, Harvard Business School

No. 2: R&D Policies and Economic Growth
PDF, 22.03.2016, Ufuk Akcigit
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Chicago

No. 1: Competitiveness and Growth Policy Design
PDF, 22.03.2016, Philippe Aghion
Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University