R&D, embodied technological change and employment: Evidence from Spain
Gabriele Pellegrino, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli
#2018-024
In this work, we test the employment impact of distinct types of
innovative investments using a representative sample of Spanish
manufacturing firms over the period 2002-2013. Our GMM-SYS estimates
generate various results, which are partially in contrast with the
extant literature. Indeed, estimations carried out on the entire sample
do not provide statistically significant evidence of the expected
labour-friendly nature of innovation. More in detail, neither R&D nor
investment in innovative machineries and equipment (the so-called
embodied technological change, ETC) turn out to have any significant
employment effect. However, the job-creation impact of R&D expenditures
becomes highly significant when the focus is limited to the high-tech
firms. On the other hand - and interestingly - ETC exhibits its
labour-saving nature when SMEs are singled out.
Keywords: Innovation; R&D; Embodied Technological Change; Employment;
GMM-SYS
JEL Classification: O33