Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 23 No. 1 2005
Is Mobility of Technical Personnel a Source of R&D Spillovers?
Abstract
Labor mobility is considered to be an important source of knowledge externalities, making it difficult for firms to appropriate returns to research and development (R&D). Interfirm transfers of knowledge embodied in people should be analyzed within a human capital framework. Testing such a framework, I find that the technical staff in R&D‐intensive firms pays for the knowledge they accumulate on the job through lower wages early in their career. They later earn a return on these implicit investments through higher wages. This suggests that the potential externalities associated with labor mobility are, at least partially, internalized in the labor market.
- DOI
- 10.1086/425434
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 81-114
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref