Innovation and employment in sub-Saharan Africa: New evidence from the World Bank Enterprise Survey

Mezid N. Keraga (), Hans Lööf () and Andreas Stephan
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Mezid N. Keraga: Ethiopian Civil Service University

No 497, Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation from Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

Abstract: This paper presents new insights into the relationship between innovation and employment in low-income countries. We use firm-level data sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) and focus on six sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies over the period 2003-2019. The econometric results from difference-in-differences (DiD) estimations, in conjunction with propensity score matching show a positive influence of product innovation on both permanent and total firm-level employment. The evidence for employment impact of process innovations is weak. Considering relations between firms, we find a positive intra-industry spillover effect from both product and process innovation on employment in firms operating within the same two-digit industry, while the results for inter-industry spillovers are non-significant or negative.

Keywords: Innovation; Employment; Sub-Saharan; Spillover effects; DID; Matching approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2024-02-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ent, nep-ino, nep-lma, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0497

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