Do innovation spillovers impact employment and skill upgrading?

So far, the research on impact of innovation on employment and skills focused on effects within firms and sectors. Little attention was paid to the influence of interlinkages between sectors as a source of employment change. The main contribution of this paper to the field refers to broadening the analysis of innovation impacts to innovation spillovers from vertically linked sectors on firms' employment and skill change in user industries. The empirical analysis conclusively demonstrates an important role of innovation spillovers in the economy. Firms' employment growth is shown to benefit significantly from spillovers of product innovations in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. Similarly, firms that are subject to increased spillovers of product innovations as well as marketing and organisational innovations are more likely to upgrade their skill composition. Conversely, employment growth and skill composition of firms seem to be negatively affected by spillovers of process innovations in vertically linked sectors.     

Knowledge spillovers and high-impact growth: Comparing local and foreign firms in the UK

This paper is concerned with entrepreneurial high-impact firms, which are firms that generate ‘both’ disproportionate levels of employment and sales growth, and have high levels of innovative activity. It investigates differences in the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth between foreign and local firms in the UK. The study is based on an analysis of data from UK Innovation Scoreboard on 865 firms, which were divided into ‘high-impact firms’ (defined as those achieving positive growth in both sales and employment) and low-impact firms (negative or no growth in sales or employment). More precisely, the paper investigates the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth of foreign and local firms, from regional, sectoral and firm size perspectives. The findings suggest that (1) firms’ access to regional knowledge spillovers (from businesses and higher education institutions) is more significantly associated with high-impact growth of local firms in comparison to foreign firms; (2) because knowledge spillovers are more likely to occur in high-tech sectors (compared to low-tech sectors), firms in high-tech sectors are more associated with high-impact growth. Nonetheless, the relationship is stronger for local firms compared to foreign firms; (3) because small firms have greater need for knowledge spillovers (relative to large firms), there is a negative relationship between firm size and high-impact growth, but the negative relationship is greater for UK firms in comparison to foreign firms. Implications are drawn for policy and research.     

财政支出、空间溢出与全要素生产率增长——基于动态空间面板模型的实证研究

通过构建财政支出、空间溢出与全要素生产率增长的分析框架,采用动态空间面板计量方法,考察1998—2010年中国大陆财政支出对全要素生产率增长的影响及其空间溢出效应,结果表明:财政支出规模的扩大对全要素生产率增长和技术进步率的提高具有积极的推动作用;在分项财政支出中,教育、公共服务及社会保障就业支出与技术进步均具有正相关性,而农业支出对技术进步的作用并不显著;一个地区的财政支出,尤其是教育和公共服务支出对相邻地区的全要素生产率增长和技术进步会产生明显的正向空间溢出效应。     

Productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment: evidence from Turkish micro-level data

This paper analyzes the productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) using Turkish firm-level data for a more recent time period, 2003–2010, which coincides with significant FDI inflows both in manufacturing and service sectors in the region. The empirical model is derived from endogenous growth theory whereby the rate of technological progress is partly determined by technology transfers and spillovers from international contacts, our exclusive focus being on FDI-induced spillovers. The impact of FDI onto the firm-level productivity is evaluated via the channels of horizontal and vertical linkages. The empirical results show that horizontal linkages decrease the productivity of firms, whereas vertical linkages exert a positive impact onto the local productivity levels, thereby drawing attention of policy makers towards strengthening of supplier–buyer relationship between local and multinationals in order to optimize the benefits from FDI. This study also acknowledges the heterogeneity of local (foreign) firms and their differential capacity to absorb (exude) the FDI-induced externalities.     

Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity

This paper explores the relationship between FDI spillovers and productivity in manufacturing firms in five European transition countries. The novelty of our approach lies in exploring different mechanisms of horizontal spillovers and disentangling the impact of backward and forward vertical spillovers from services and manufacturing sectors. We rely on firm level data obtained from the Amadeus database and annual input-output tables. The results from dynamic panel model estimations reveal that local manufacturing firms benefit from the presence of foreign firms in upstream services, especially in the knowledge intensive services, and in downstream manufacturing sector. Demonstration effect is found to be negatively associated with domestic firms’ productivity, while worker mobility and increased competition appear to be the main channels of horizontal knowledge diffusion. The firms’ productivity is also influenced positively by human capital and intangible assets. Finally, we show that the direction and intensity of both vertical and horizontal spillovers depend on the absorptive capacity of domestic firms.     

进口贸易、R&D溢出与中国制造业的就业变动

本文利用1996～2005年中国制造业的面板数据,实证分析了进口贸易的R&D溢出对中国制造业的就业总量变动的影响及影响的部门差异。研究结果表明,考虑到进口贸易对国内制造业的R&D溢出效应后,中国制造业从发达国家的进口没有通过替代国内生产而减少就业,相反,进口贸易通过R&D溢出增加了整个制造部门的就业。由于技术进步的两面性和各部门要素密集度的不同,进口贸易的R&D溢出对就业的影响存在明显的部门差异。由于R&D投资回收期长、国内企业的技术吸收能力较弱,国内R&D投资和进口贸易的R&D溢出对就业总量的影响具有显著的滞后性。中国劳动力市场中的趋势效应、价格效应和规模效应的存在,使就业变动呈现动态调整的特征。     

Formal Employment and Informal Work in Household Services

This article discusses whether employment increases are likely in household services. The conclusion is that until recently, employment increased due to a shift of service work from households to the formal economy (especially the public sector). The growing number of childless or single parent households means a growing demand for services from the formal economy. Still, it seems likely that the service employment growth will slow down and be substituted by work in the informal economy, due to the cost increases in the formal economy connected with low productivity growth in service activities.     

Industrial policy evaluation in the presence of spillovers

The shortage of studies on spatial spillovers of capital subsidy policies is rather surprising, considering that such policies are usually designed to generate spatial externalities. We propose a new framework that allows positive agglomeration effects to be contrasted with the negative cross-sectional substitution and the crowding-out effect. The global evaluation of the ATT and the spillover parameters shifts the spotlight from the policy effect on subsidised firms to the global effect of capital subsidy policies on the targeted territory. The empirical evaluation of a policy in Italy mainly directed towards small- and medium-sized firms shows that the impact on investments, turnover and employment is positive and large, but is negative on TFP. However, the employment growth is partially determined to the detriment of the untreated firms.     

A spatial approach to the FDI-growth nexus in Spain: Dealing with the headquarters effect

This paper examines the effects of inward FDI on economic growth across the Spanish regions over the period 1996–2013, paying particular attention to the ‘headquarters effect’, namely that FDI is not always registered where it is effectively made but in the region in which the firm’s headquarters is located. By estimating a panel Spatial Durbin Model to allow for the detection of spatial spillovers, two main findings are reported. First, FDI does foster economic growth. Second, only when the headquarters effect is properly addressed do spatial spillovers arise. Hence, this effect is masking the impact of regional FDI spillovers on growth, which affects the reliability of the results and, consequently, FDI policies choice. Importantly, the results are: a) robust to the way of computing the headquarters effect; b) independent of the spatial weight matrix specification; and c) confirmed when splitting FDI into different industrial and service branches.     

Start-ups and employment dynamics within and across sectors

We use a decade of longitudinal data on start-ups and employment in Swedish regions to analyze the effect of start-ups on subsequent employment growth. We extend previous analyses by decomposing the effect of start-ups on total employment change into within- and cross-sector effects. We find that start-ups in a sector influence employment change in the same as well as in other sectors. The results illustrate that the known S-shaped pattern can be attributed to the different effects of start-ups in a sector on employment change in the same sector and in others. Start-ups in a sector have a positive impact on employment change in the same sector. The effects on employment change in other sectors may be negative or positive, and depend on the sector under consideration. In particular, start-ups in high-end services deviate from manufacturing and low-end services in that they have significant negative impacts on employment change in other sectors. The findings are consistent with the idea that start-ups are a vehicle for change in the composition of regional industry.     

International Growth Spillovers,Geography and Infrastructure

There is significant academic evidence that growth in one country has a positive impact on growth in neighbouring countries. This paper contributes to this literature by analysing the heterogeneous strength of growth spillovers across world regions and by investigating the contribution of transport and communication infrastructure to explain this heterogeneity and promote neighbourhood effects. By defining neighbourhood on the basis of membership of regional trade agreements, we focus on spillovers that work through regional integration and trade. The analysis finds significant evidence for heterogeneity in growth spillovers, which are strong between OECD countries and essentially absent in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). We further find strong interaction between infrastructure and being a landlocked country. This suggests that growth spillovers from regional ‘success stories’ in SSA and other lagging world regions will depend on first strengthening the channels through which such spillovers can spread – most importantly connective infrastructure such as transport and telecommunication links.     

Are there regional spillovers from FDI in the Swiss manufacturing industry?

This paper examines whether there are signs of regional spillovers from FDI, although evidence is still very scarce. It hypothesizes that (a) the assessment of regional spillovers relies on a detailed analysis of these effects, according to the channels by which they occur (namely, increasing competition, worker mobility, and demonstration effects); (b) the size and the extent of these effects depend on the interaction between their channels and the levels of existing technological capacity of local firms; and (c) spillover benefits tend to occur in regions where local firms largely invest in absorbing the best foreign knowledge. Using detailed firm-level manufacturing data from Switzerland, we have found that local firms gain from the presence of foreign firms in their region, but lose out if the firms are located elsewhere. Competition-related spillovers appear to be fully absorbed by local firms, with high technological capacities; worker-mobility-related spillovers are fully absorbed by low technology firms; while demonstration-related spillovers are absorbed by all groups of firms with mid technology firms experiencing the larger benefit. In addition, our results demonstrate that only local firms which have invested largely in the absorptive capacity benefit from spillovers, stemming mainly from technology transfer. This benefit seems to occur at both regional level and outside.     

Are there demonstration-related spillovers from FDI?: Evidence from Switzerland

This paper examines whether there are signs of demonstration-related spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI). It hypothesizes that the size and the extent of such benefits vary according to the level of the absorptive capacity of local firms. Using detailed firm data from Swiss manufacturing and services/construction, we find strong evidence for demonstration-related spillovers when (a) local firms are not far behind the technological frontier of the industry with a technological gap slightly greater than one, and (b) local firms demonstrate high investment in the absorptive capacity. The results are found to be more consistent in manufacturing than services/construction.     

Trade in High-Tech Services

This paper examines the size, scope, and potential implications of trade in high-tech services in the U.S. The results suggest that many service activities are tradable, tradable service activities tend to employ more educated workers and pay higher wages, and high-tech services account for a large share of service activities that are tradable. Service exporters are more prevalent in high-tech industries with larger establishments and higher wages. Within industries, service exporters tend to be larger, pay higher wages, and are more productive. Tradable service activities seem consistent with U.S. comparative advantage and, as a result, less likely to be vulnerable to offshoring. Consistent with this, recent employment growth in tradable service industries is not significantly different than employment growth in non-tradable service industries.     

服务业能承担转移我国农村剩余劳动力的重任吗

服务业就业比重的提高难用一个统一的理论基础来解释.发达国家服务业就业结构的变迁表明,服务业就业比重的提高实质上是以商务服务业为主的生产者服务业和以教育、医疗卫生业为主的社会服务业就业比重的提高.从目前来看,短期内我国服务业难以承担大规模转移农村剩余劳动力的任务.但通过发展劳动密集型制造业转移农村剩余劳动力不仅是可行的,也是必要的.     

生产性服务业发展趋势及其内在机制——基于典型国家数据的实证分析

通过分析典型国家的数据,描述了生产性服务业的发展趋势以及该趋势形成的内在机理。生产性服务业的增加值和就业比重均在不断上升,但前者上升幅度较后者大,这是因为生产性服务业的相对劳动生产率也在不断提高。生产性服务业不断发展壮大是源于其强大的产业关联效应,尤其是前向的产业关联效应。     

Science Parks and the Performance of New Technology-Based Firms: A Review of Recent U.K. Evidence and an Agenda for Future Research

Science parks were established to stimulate the formation and development of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Despite the potential importance of these institutions as a mechanism for generating technological spillovers and employment growth, there has been little systematic analysis of their impact on NTBFs. In this paper, we review some recent evidence comparing the performance of firms located on and off U.K. science parks. This preliminary evidence suggests that the "returns" to being located on a science park are negligible. We conjecture that these results may be due to imprecise estimates of these returns and may also be masking important differences in the returns to different types of science parks. In addition, we outline an agenda for additional research on the effects of these institutions on NTBF performance.     

Beyond Employment: An Examination of Modes of Service Provision in a Deprived Neighbourhood

The aim of this article is to show that despite the growth in service employment, the formalisation of services is neither as all-pervasive as such growth .suggests nor is it a natural and inevitable process. Through case study of a deprived neighbourhood, this article finds that the vast majority of service remain informally provided, that it is not the poorest households who acquire the largest proportion o f their services informally and that informal services are not used purely out of economic necessity. Therefore, the predominace of informality is unlikely to be confined to deprived neighbourhoods. The problem, however; given that those who purchase fewest fornal services also acquire fewest informal services, is that iformal modes of provision seem to reinforce rerther than reduce the socio-economic inequalities produrced by employment.     

中国服务进出口贸易对第三产业就业效应——基于1982-2008年VAR和VEC的计量分析

基于对1982-2008年的服务贸易进出口额、第三产业就业数的时间序列数据的实证研究,结果表明：服务贸易出口与第三产业就业正相关,但服务贸易进口与第三产业就业负相关,并且从长期来看,服务贸易进口对第三产业就业负拉动效应大于服务贸易出口正拉动效应。短期内,服务贸易出口显著地促进第三产业就业的增加,服务贸易进口则与第三产业存在着并不显著的负相关关系。     

Foreign Firms and Chinese Employment

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on employment in the Chinese manufacturing sector. As one of the world's largest recipients of FDI, China has arguably benefited from foreign multinational enterprises in various respects. However, one of the main challenges for China, and other developing countries, is job creation, and the effect of FDI on employment is uncertain. The effect depends on the amount of jobs created within foreign firms as well as the effect of FDI on employment in domestic firms. We analyse FDI and employment in China using a large sample of manufacturing firms for the period 1998–2004. Our results show that FDI has positive effects on employment growth. The relatively high employment growth in foreign firms is associated with their firm characteristics and their high survival rate. Employment growth is also relatively high in private domestic Chinese firms. There also seems to be a positive indirect effect of FDI on employment in private domestically‐owned firms, presumably caused by spillovers.