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Technological progress in semiconductor chips plays a central role in enabling the Information Technology revolution. Continual technological progress in semiconductor chips, which has become popular under the name of Moore's Law, reduces the cost of storing and processing information. While the role of the semiconductor chip manufacturing companies in driving Moore's Law is well known, less attention has been given to the equally important role played by upstream suppliers who produce the tools that are necessary to make the chips. In the early stages of the industry, the chip manufacturers made their own tools in-house. Using data at the initial stages of the industry and a wealth of publicly available information from interviews with industry pioneers conducted as part of oral history projects, this article examines how (i) market size (ii) heterogeneity in firm capabilities (iii) geographic proximity to manufacturing clusters, influenced the emergence of these semiconductor tools suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of innovation in Information Technology (IT) has slowed down over time. The slowdown is evident both in the data on quality-adjusted prices of computers, and performance of microprocessors used in computers. The model in this paper shows that an IT–labor elasticity of substitution that is greater than 1 can explain the slowdown. With an elasticity of substitution greater than 1, however, slowing innovation can result in sustained labor productivity and output growth. Sustained growth is possible because an IT–labor elasticity of substitution greater than 1 results in a continuously increasing share of IT in production costs, which counteracts the effect of slowing innovation on labor productivity and output growth. In this environment of slowing innovation, increasing IT share and sustained growth, employment can increase or decrease, depending on the values of the IT–labor elasticity of substitution and the price elasticity of demand for IT-enabled consumption goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a report from the President of the Australian Society of Endodontology (ASE) Federal Branch. The President expresses gratitude for assuming the position and introduces the members of the new team. They also mention the success of the recent Trans-Tasman endodontic conference and the upcoming World Endodontic Conference in Glasgow. The President congratulates Prof. Paul Abbott for receiving the Jens Andreasen Lifetime Achievement Award and acknowledges the winners of the ASE research grant. They conclude by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to serve as President. [Extracted from the article]

We investigate households' demand for solar energy in France, Germany, Italy and US, using a loglinear demand for each, and a combined panel data, with fixed effects, for 2000-2012. The dependent variable is household's installed solar panels; whereas the independent variables are income, price of solar panels, interest rate, representing the cost of financing of a project, and price of "traditional energy. " With i?2 being 0.9, all coefficients having expected theoretical signs and statistical significance in all specifications, our model can be generalized for other countries' households' solar demand. This is a major contribution to the theoretical and empirical literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in nanoscale science have led to the development of new materials and techniques which are affecting production capabilities in a number of manufacturing industries. The authors look at key features of advances made possible by nanoscale science that are relevant to manufacturing capabilities, and examine how these capabilities are being employed in six industries: semiconductors, solar cells, rechargeable batteries, lighting, display and healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]