The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation

Pierpaolo Parrotta; Dario  Pozzoli; Mariola Pytlikova

doi:10.1007/s00148-013-0491-7

The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation

Pierpaolo Parrotta, Dario Pozzoli, Mariola Pytlikova

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the nexus between firm labor diversity and innovation by using data on patent applications filed by firms at the European Patent Office and a linked employer–employee database from Denmark. Exploiting the information retrieved from these comprehensive data sets and implementing proper instrumental variable strategies, we estimate the contribution of workers’ diversity in cultural background, education and demographic characteristics to valuable firm’s innovation activity. Specifically, we find evidence supporting the hypothesis that ethnic diversity may facilitate firms’ patenting activity in several ways by (a) increasing the propensity to (apply for a) patent, (b) increasing the overall number of patent applications, and (c) by enlarging the breadth of patenting technological fields, conditional on patenting. Several robustness checks corroborate the main findings.

Language	English
Journal	Journal of Population Economics
Volume	27
Issue number	2
Pages	303-364
ISSN	0933-1433
DOIs	10.1007/s00148-013-0491-7
State	Published - 2014
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Cite this

Parrotta, P., Pozzoli, D., & Pytlikova, M. (2014). The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation. Journal of Population Economics, 27(2), 303-364. DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0491-7

Parrotta, Pierpaolo ; Pozzoli, Dario ; Pytlikova, Mariola. / The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation. In: Journal of Population Economics. 2014 ; Vol. 27, No. 2. pp. 303-364

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Parrotta, P, Pozzoli, D & Pytlikova, M 2014, 'The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation' Journal of Population Economics, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 303-364. DOI: 10.1007/s00148-013-0491-7

The Nexus Between Labor Diversity and Firm’s Innovation. / Parrotta, Pierpaolo; Pozzoli, Dario ; Pytlikova, Mariola.

In: Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2014, p. 303-364.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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