Innovation effects on employment in high-tech and low-tech industries: evidence from large international firms within the triad

In this paper we investigate the role of financial shocks, such as the economic crisis since 2006, in the reallocation process of employment flows in high-tech and low-tech industries. The contributions of the paper to the literature are threefold. First, a general framework of employment growth is estimated by using a dataset made of 879 large international firms observed for the period 2002–2010 and localized in three economic areas: USA, Japan and Europe. Second, we develop a database merging the firms’ data with EPO patents data. In particular, the innovation variable is proxied by the R&D capital stock. Third contribution to the literature is to analyze the extent to which the economic crisis may affect the sensitivity of employment with respect to own innovation but also with respect to outside innovation, the R&D spillovers, in high-tech and low-tech industries. The empirical results suggest some important and significant results. This comparative finding could be the source of relevant industrial policy implications.