Human Capital, Firm Capabilities, and Innovation

Arbeitspapier

Are differences in inventor productivity due to differences in inventors’ skills or differences in the capabilities of the firms they work for? We analyze a 37-year panel that tracks the patenting of U.S. inventors and find strong evidence for serial correlation in inventors’ productivity. We apply an econometric technique developed by Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999) to decompose the contributions of inventors’ human capital and firm capabilities for productivity. Our estimates suggest human capital is 4-5 times more important than firm capabilities for explaining the variance in inventor productivity. High human capital inventors work for firms that have (i) other high human capital inventors, (ii) superior financial performance, and (iii) weak firm-specific invention capabilities. On the margins, managers should emphasize selecting talent rather than training workers to enhance innovation performance.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper ; No. 17-115/VII

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights: General ; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives ; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: Human Capital ; Capabilities ; Innovation ; Matching ; Competitive Advantage

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bhaskarbhatla, Ajay ; Hegde, Deepak ; Peeters, Thomas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Tinbergen Institute
• (where): Amsterdam and Rotterdam
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/177683
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET