Does the mobility of R&D labor increase innovation?

Ulrich Kaiser (), Hans Christian Kongsted and Thomas Rønde

No 14-115, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: We investigate the effect of mobility of R&D workers on the total patenting activity of their employers. Our study documents how mobile workers affect the patenting activity of the firm they join and the firm they leave. The effect of labor mobility is strongest if workers join from patent-active firms. We also find evidence of a positive feedback effect on the former employer's patenting from workers who have left for another patent-active firm. Summing up the effects of joining and leaving workers, we show that labor mobility increases the total innovative activity of the new and the old employer. Our study which is based on the population of R&D active Danish firms observed between 1999 and 2004 thus provides firm-level support for the notion that labor mobility stimulates overall innovation of a country or region due to knowledge transfer.

Keywords: labor mobility; innovation; research and development; patenting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~, nep-mig, nep-sbm and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Does the mobility of R&D labor increase innovation? (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14115

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