Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?

Jarle Møen

Journal of Labor Economics, 2005, vol. 23, issue 1, 81-114

Abstract: Labor mobility is considered to be an important source of knowledge externalities, making it difficult for firms to appropriate returns to research and development (R&D). Interfirm transfers of knowledge embodied in people should be analyzed within a human capital framework. Testing such a framework, I find that the technical staff in R&D-intensive firms pays for the knowledge they accumulate on the job through lower wages early in their career. They later earn a return on these implicit investments through higher wages. This suggests that the potential externalities associated with labor mobility are, at least partially, internalized in the labor market.

Date: 2005
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Working Paper: Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers? (2000)
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