A Year Older, A Year Wiser (and Farther from Frontier): Invention Rents and Human Capital Depreciation

Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit, Ari Hyytinen and Otto Toivanen

No 29863, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We look at how the arrival of an invention affects wage returns and probability of moving out of employment for white- and blue-collar coworkers of the inventor. First results suggest that older workers are hurt by the arrival of an invention. This negative effect disappears when we control for education and, in particular, for time that since obtaining the last formal degree, i.e., distance to human capital frontier. If anything, this effect is slightly higher for non-STEM than STEM-educated co-workers. This result suggests that retraining programs could be helpful in making the process of creative destruction and economic growth more inclusive.

JEL-codes: I24 J24 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-knm and nep-lma
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Published as Philippe Aghion & Ufuk Akcigit & Ari Hyytinen & Otto Toivanen, 2024. "A Year Older, A Year Wiser (and Farther from Frontier): Invention Rents and Human Capital Depreciation," Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 106(4), pages 974-982.

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