Suchergebnisse

This study is concerned with the econometric analysis of innovation activities in Germany. Using microeconometric models and an unique linked employer-employee dataset provided by the German Federal Employment Office, it presents new evidence on a variety of issues ranging from the determinants of innovations to their impact on labor demand. After a brief introduction into the economics of innovation and a discussion of econometric issues such as self selection and endogeneity, the second part of this study addresses the role of public subsidies and organizational changes within establishments in the innovation process. In the third part the book analyzes whether technological and organizational changes are skill biased in favor of high skilled employees and whether they discriminate against older employees.

Innovations are a key factor to ensure the competitiveness of establishments as well as to enhance the growth and wealth of nations. But more than any other economic activity, decisions about innovations are plagued by failures of the market mechanism. As a response, public instruments have been implemented to stimulate private innovation activities. The effectiveness of these measures, however, is ambiguous and calls for an empirical evaluation. In this paper we make use of the IAB Establishment Panel and apply various microeconometric methods to estimate the effect of public measures on innovation activities of German establishments. We find that neglecting sample selection due to observable as well as to unobservable characteristics leads to an overestimation of the treatment effect and that there are considerable differences with regard to size class and between West and East German establishments.