Dr. Rainer Widmann

Curriculum Vitae

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Personal webpage:

www.rainerwidmann.com

Areas of Interest:

Innovation and Science Policy, Mobility, Labor Markets, Incentives in Organizations, Political Economy

Since 08/2018
Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Wettbewerb (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research)

09/2012 - 07/2018
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) at the Kellogg School of Management. Doctoral Thesis: “Essays on Economics of Innovation”

10/2010 - 07/2012
Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Economics at the Vienna Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS)

09/2006 - 01/2010
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science at the University of Vienna

09/2006 - 06/2010
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Business, Economics and Social Science at the Vienna University of Economics and Business

2017 - 2018
General Motors Research Center Disseration Fellowship, Kellogg School of Management

2012 - 2017
Ph.D. Scholarship, Kellogg School of Management

2011
Austrian Lottery Award, Vienna Institute for Advanced Studies

2010 - 2012
Vienna Institute for Advanced Studies Scholarship

The Effect of Government Research Grants on Firm Innovation: Theory and Evidence from Austria
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This paper examines the effect of government research grants on firms’ patenting outcomes. Discontinuities in the funding decisions of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) allow me to study the effect of public funding in a large sample of Austrian firms. My estimates suggest that a government research grant increases the propensity to file a patent application with the European Patent Office within 4 years by around 10 percentage points. Stronger effects appear for established firms of advanced age. I present evidence that established firms undertake ambitious research projects when they receive grants. Finally, I interpret the findings in an ”exploration vs. exploitation” model in which the government agency addresses inefficiency in the direction of research.

Immigrant inventors and local income taxes: evidence from Swiss municipalities
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This paper studies the relationship between local personal income tax rates and the attractiveness of municipalities as residential locations for immigrant inventors in Switzerland. Exploiting sharp differences in top income tax rates across state borders, I find an elasticity of the probability that an inventor locates in a municipality with respect to the top net-of-tax rate of around 3.54. I present additional evidence that suggests that local income tax rates affect the localization of entrepreneurial activity of immigrant inventors.

26.11.2019
Immigrant Inventors and Local Income Taxes: Evidence from Swiss Municipalities
Seminar, TU Munich
Location: Munich

18.09.2019
Immigrant Inventors and Local Income Taxes: Evidence from Swiss Municipalities
Seminar, EPFL Lausanne
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

26.11.2019
The Effect of Government Research Grants on Firm Innovation Theory and Evidence from Austria
Seminar, Ohio State University
Location: Columbus, Ohio, US

17.06.2019
Immigrant Inventors and Local Income Taxes: Evidence from Swiss Municipalities
LMU Munich Innovation Seminar
Location: Munich

20.05.2019
Immigrant Inventors and Local Income Taxes: Evidence from Swiss Municipalities
Swiss Workshop on Local Public Finance and Regional Economics, University of Lugano
Location: Lugano, Switzerland

17.05.2019
The Effect of Government Research Grants on Firm Innovation Theory and Evidence from Austria
8th ZEW/MaCCI Conference on the Economics of Innovation and Patenting, ZEW
Location: Mannheim