 R&D restructuring during the Great Recession and young firmsMaría García-Vega International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2022, vol. 81, issue C Abstract: In this paper, I examine whether the Great Recession of the late 2000s (henceforth abbreviated as GR) had an effect on the organization of R&D in young versus older firms. Using a difference-in-difference approach and propensity score reweighting estimator, for a panel of more than 12,000 Spanish firms from 2005 to 2014, I compare young firms with older firms before and after the GR. I show that young firms implemented three key compositional changes in their R&D policies during the GR as compared to older firms: a) they reduced their R&D employment by firing medium and low-skilled R&D workers; b) they hired high-skilled R&D workers; and c) they increased their capital investments for R&D. These changes in R&D policies suggest that, during the GR, young firms substituted medium and low-skilled R&D workers by high-skilled workers and machines. These effects are mediated by the firms’ financial health. Keywords: Young firms; Great Recession; Firm performance; R&D; Innovation; Automation/Mechanization of R&D; Skill-upgrading; Job polarization (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:indorg:v:81:y:2022:i:c:s0167718721001119 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2021.102819 Access Statistics for this article International Journal of Industrial Organization is currently edited by P. Bajari, B. Caillaud and N. Gandal More articles in International Journal of Industrial Organization from Elsevier |
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