Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms

V. Van Roy; D. Vértesy; M. Vivarelli

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008

Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms

V. Van Roy^*, D. Vértesy, M. Vivarelli

^*Corresponding author for this work

UNU-MERIT Research and Training Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003–2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labor-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1762-1776
Number of pages	15
Journal	Research Policy
Volume	47
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008
Publication status	Published - Nov 2018

JEL classifications

o15 - "Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration"
o00 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth

Keywords

Employment
GMM-SYS
Innovation
Patents
Technological change
Manufacture
High tech
Innovation activity
Job creation
Manufacturing sector
Positive impacts
Patents and inventions
COUNTRIES
RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT
LABOR DEMAND
SKILLS
INNOVATION
ITALIAN MICRODATA
LEVEL ANALYSIS
PANEL-DATA
MANUFACTURING FIRMS
PRODUCTIVITY

Access to Document

10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms",

abstract = "This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003–2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labor-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.",

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author = "{Van Roy}, V. and D. V{\'e}rtesy and M. Vivarelli",

year = "2018",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

pages = "1762--1776",

journal = "Research Policy",

issn = "0048-7333",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "9",

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T1 - Technology and employment

T2 - Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms

AU - Van Roy, V.

AU - Vértesy, D.

AU - Vivarelli, M.

PY - 2018/11

Y1 - 2018/11

N2 - This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003–2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labor-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.

AB - This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003–2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labor-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.

KW - Employment

KW - GMM-SYS

KW - Innovation

KW - Patents

KW - Technological change

KW - Manufacture

KW - High tech

KW - Innovation activity

KW - Job creation

KW - Manufacturing sector

KW - Positive impacts

KW - Patents and inventions

KW - COUNTRIES

KW - RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT

KW - LABOR DEMAND

KW - SKILLS

KW - INNOVATION

KW - ITALIAN MICRODATA

KW - LEVEL ANALYSIS

KW - PANEL-DATA

KW - MANUFACTURING FIRMS

KW - PRODUCTIVITY

U2 - 10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008

DO - 10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008

M3 - Article

SN - 0048-7333

VL - 47

SP - 1762

EP - 1776

JO - Research Policy

JF - Research Policy

IS - 9

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