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SIMPATIC working paper no. 11November 2013
Innovation and employment inSpanish manufacturing firms
Felipe Rojas Pizarro
The SIMPATIC project is coordinated by Bruegel (Belgium) and involves the following partner organisations: KU Leuven (Bel-gium), UNU-Merit (Netherlands), SEURECO (France), E3MLab (Greece), Univesidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), FederalPlanning Bureau (Belgium), Imperial College (United Kingdom), Institut za ekonomska raziskovanja (Slovenia). Project website:http://simpatic.eu/
LEGAL NOTICE: The research leading to these results has received funding from the Socio-economic Sciences andHumanities Programme of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grantagreement no. 290597. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and donot necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
WORKING PAPER
INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT IN SPANISH MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Felipe Rojas Pizarro
GRIPICO- Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2
Innovation and Employment in Spanish Manufacturing Firms
Felipe Rojas Pizarro*
GRIPICO-Universidad Complutense de Madrid
May 2013
Abstract: In this article, the relationship between innovation and employment for Spanish
manufacturing firms is reviewed, using data from the Panel of Technological Innovation
covering the period 2004 to 2010. Following the model developed by Harrison, Jaumandreu,
Mairesse and Peters (2008), the results provide evidence that there are different patterns in
the impacts of process and product innovation on employment for the period prior to and
during the economic crisis.
Key words: innovation, employment, Spain, panel data.
Códigos J.E.L.: L6, O31, O33.
_____________________ * Address for correspondence: GRIPICO (Group for Research in Productivity, Innovation and Competition). Dpto. Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I. Facultad de CC. Económicas y Empresariales. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Campus de Somosaguas. 28223 Madrid. España. E-mail: [email protected]
This research has been partially financed by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (SIMPATIC project. GA No. 290597) .
3
I Introduction
The classical question “Does technology create or destroy jobs?” has been posed
since the beginning of classical economics (Bogliacino and Vivarelli, 2010), and in well-
defined contexts (Pianta, 2005). The analysis of the relationship between innovation and
employment is complex, and in recent years, it has expanded to include new aspects like the
level of employment skill, and new contexts like developing countries and the service sector.
For many economists, it is essential to measure the impact of innovation on employment
because of the fear of unemployment which arises in radical periods of technological change
(Vivarelli, 2007, Bogliacino and Vivarelli, 2010, Vivarelli, 2012). As such, an evaluation of the
effects of innovation on employment is important in order to understand how the product
market and the institutionality of the job market can be affected by innovations in firms, and
consequently, the impact of innovation policies on employment.
To address this problem, we must distinguish between different innovations
promoted by firms and their influence on employment via multiple channels. In general, the
literature identifies four kinds of innovations, process, product, marketing and
organisational, focusing the discussion on the first two, which are considered technological
innovations.
The goal of the study is to discover the impact of technological innovations on
employment in Spanish firms in the context of economic growth and recession, following the
methodology developed by Harrison, Jaumandreu, Mairesse and Peters (2008). This model,
which from here on will be called the HJMP model (2008), is used in most of the emprical
research papers produced with firms’ micro-data. Information from the Panel of
Technological Innovation is used for firms in the Spanish manufacturing sector from 2004 to
2010.
Given the chance to use data which cover a large range of years, including those
when the Spanish economy grew considerably and also when that growth declined, we
identify different effects of process and product innovation in Spanish firms. Not only are
4
there changes in the magnitude of the impact of product innovation on employment, but
also the production of old products loses efficiency during the period studied.
This paper is organised as follows. In Section II, the main theoretical relationships
between innovation and employment are analysed from a microeconomic perspective. In
Section III, the HJMP model (2008) is reviewed and the main empirical results found in
previous articles that use this model are summarised, for both developed and developing
countries. In Section IV, the estimation strategy and the implications of using panel data are
set out in detail. Section V describes the behaviour of the model’s main variables. Section VI
presents the main results, closing with an assessment of the contribution that innovation
makes to employment growth. Lastly, Section VII summarises the main conclusions.
II. Compensation effect versus displacement effect
Authors like Peters (2004), Vivarelli (2007) and HJMP (2008) review and synthesise
the literature that analyses the effects of innovation on employment, pointing out the
different channels through which innovations destroy jobs (displacement effect), and
mechanisms for creating new jobs (compensation effect). The total effect will vary according
to the firm’s sector of activity, national factors and the time frame of analysis, which
depends on: the existing production technology and the nature of the technological progress
(product or process innovation); the purpose of the innovation (to save labour or capital,
neutral, or biased towards skills); the dimension of the innovation (radical or incremental
innovation); consumer preferences; the existing competition in intermediate inputs and the
labour market; and, lastly, the structure of workforce skills.
With regard to the compensation effect, economic theory identifies the existence of
elements that would generate new jobs as a consequence of technological progress. In a
historical perspective of economics, the discussion is focused on the existence of
mechanisms which compensate for technological advances. Vivarelli (2007, 2012), for
example, borrows a compensation theory from Marx that tries to identify different market
5
mechanisms that operate because of technological change, and which could neutralise the
initial impact on the lower demand for labour.
In process innovation, compensation mechanisms include the price and income
effects: Bogliacino and Vivarelli (2010) note that process innovations lead to a decline in unit
production costs and, assuming a competitive market exists, this effect translates to a
reduction in prices. Then, the fall in prices stimulates the demand for products, at the same
time increasing production and employment. As for the income effect, when market
adjustments are not instantaneous, it is found that during the time between the fall in costs
because of the innovation process and the resulting drop in prices, innovative entrepreneurs
and their employees can accumulate profits and/or additional wages by reinvesting the extra
profits from innovation or creating new jobs. Furthermore, additional wages can translate to
greater consumption, which would lead to an increase in employment, compensating for the
initial job losses.
As Pianta (2005) notes, in product innovation, the compensation effect comes from
the possibility of opening new markets and, when elasticity is high, it is associated with
greater production and employment and cost reductions, with an impact similar to process
innovations. In general, increases in demand will depend on the nature of the market
competition, in addition to the delay in the reaction of competitors due to the release of
new products. New product sales can to some extent supplant a firm’s current sales from
old products, reducing the compensation effect, with limited economic effects.
Moreover, Edquist et al. (2001) add that new products enter the economy as
consumer goods, intermediate goods or investment goods, as a result of demand from
consumers, firms or investors. Product innovation in investment goods has an effect on
industries that produce capital goods and at the same time can become process innovations
in industries that purchase them. As a consequence, it is likely that employment increases in
machine production sectors and diminishes in industries where said capital goods are
incorporated. As such, as HJMP (2008) highlights, it is necessary to distinguish when possible
between a gross effect and a net effect, the latter taking into account the resulting reduction
6
in current sales. A summary of compensation mechanisms can be found in Spiezia and
Vivarelli (2002) and Vivarelli (2007 and 2012):
1. Due to a greater demand for labour in the capital goods sector.
2. Through the falling of prices, due to lower production costs, which stimulate the
demand for products and, as a result, the demand for employment.
3. Through new investments; assuming that the convergence between diminshing costs
and the drop in prices is not instantaneous, extra profits that are accumulated can be
appropriated by innovative firms for new investments.
4. Through a reduction of wages, and in a neoclassical approach, increasing the demand
for labour.
5. By increasing income, supposing that some of the improvements in productivity
transfer to wages, which at the same time result in greater consumption, an increase
in (aggregate) demand and an increase in employment.
6. Through new products resulting from innovation; these entail the creation of new
jobs, or even new branches of economic activity.
Critics of these mechanisms, summarised by Vivarelli (2012), emphasise that said
compensation effects can be partial or non-existent. For the first mechanism described
above, the compensation will be only partial, given that the reason for acquiring capital
goods is to create a more efficient workforce, replacing machinery or workers.
The next mechanism will depend on the level of competition that exists in the
relevant market, given that imperfections in the product market can reduce the price
reduction effect. In addition, criticism of the compensation effect of new investments
stresses the role of agents’ expectations when deciding to increase investments.
Furthermore, new investments can be capital-intensive, mitigating the compensation effect
even more.
For the fourth mechanism, the reduction of wages could affect expectations of
aggregate consumption, causing only a partial effect on the increase in the demand for
employment. However, the increase in income, especially among workers, is gradually
7
weakened, because the gains in productivity are distributed to workers less than they were
in previous decades.
Lastly, the incorporation of new products, in the words of Vivarelli (2012), is “the
most powerful way to counteract the saving of work that results from process innovations,”
although the impact will depend on the different technological paradigms.
To summarise, in accordance with Bogliacino and Vivarelli (2010), the price or income
effects and compensation mechanisms of process innovation and the increase in the
demand derived from product innovation can be more or less efficient in compensating for
job losses according to: 1) the degree of competition in the market, 2) the elasticity of the
demand, 3) agents’ expectations and the institutional contexts that promote competition in
the labour market through greater flexibility in regulation.1 Vivarelli (2012) concludes that
the compensation effect can only be partial and depends on historical and institutional
circumstances. As such, economic theory has no clear answer regarding the effect of
innovation on employment.
Is the displacement effect greater than the compensation effect? The answer to this
question is crucial in order to evaluate the effect of innovation on employment. Innovations
improve the reach or the quality of products offered by a firm, increasing the production of
the firm. Non-neutral technical change (in Hicks’s sense) is also associated with changes in
the combination of factors. In this regard, the strength of the contrasting effects allows us to
know the impact of innovation on employment. The result of this mechanism provides only
the maximum value of the impact on employment.
The behaviour of firm agents, who seek to gain revenue from innovation, can
indirectly intensify the displacement effect and weaken the compensation effects. Two
evident ways, argued by García et al. (2002), are negotiation via wage increases, which
1 Pianta (2005) notes that the conditions of the labour market and institutions are important. The results of employment caused by technological changes will depend on the way the creation and destruction of jobs is carried out, along with the setting of wages, the training period, flexibility and the administration of social protection. Additionally, labour market institutions influence the supply of employment, which must coincide with the skill and knowledge requirements of the new technologies.
8
counteract the savings in costs obtained through innovation, and exploitation of the increase
of market power through price rigidity, deficiently translating the change in costs.
Furthermore, if the firm operates in an oligopolic market, total compensation might
be weakened, given that the saving of costs does not necessarily mean a reduction of costs.
In addition, if the firm participates in the labour market as a monopsony, it can also weaken
the increase in consumption owing to smaller wage increases compared to a competitive
labour market.
Finally, the compensation effect by new products is compared to the substitution
effect of industries with mature products, considering that new branches can have different
consequences according to the degree of labour intensity they show.
III. The HJMP Model (2008): previous empirical evidence
To try to distinguish between the displacement effect and the compensation effect
with firm data, most recent empirical research follows the methodology developed in HJMP
(2008). This model includes the estimation of some structural parameters and proposes
some alternative ways to solve the problem of endogeneity.
The model assumes that the firm can produce two types of products, old and new.
Chronologically, in a first period (t1), there are only old products, and in a second period (t2),
if some product innovation has been successfully carried out between periods, new products
are generated. The production of old and new products is designated ��� and ���, respectively. By definition, in the first period, the firm only produces old produts (���), and
therefore, ��� �0; if there are no product innovations in the firm, the production of new
products is zero in the second period. Firms use a production technology with constant
returns to scale, in capital (K), labour (L) and intermediate inputs (M). The production
functions for both products are equal, identical and separable, with technological
parameters different from Hicks’s neutral type θ. Specifically:
9
��� � ������, �� , ����������� � � 1, � � 1,2; � � 2, � � 2
where �� is an unobserved fixed effect of the firm, and ���represents a non-technological,
specific productivity shock, with zero mean. The previous specification allows for the
presence of economies of scope.
With regard to technological activities, the goal of investing in R&D is to increase the
number of innovative products and create more efficient processes in the production of old
and new goods or services. This efficiency will be measured in relative terms according to
the ratio between the technological parameters of old products in both periods (��� ���⁄ ),
and likewise for new products (��� ���⁄ ).
Decisions about employment and other factors are made assuming cost-minimising
behaviour by the firm given the technology. In this context, HJMP (2008) show that the
variation of employment between two periods can be expressed in the following mannner:
Δ ≅ !"��� !"���� # !"��� !"���� #
������
������ ��� ����$�
Equation (1) explains the growth of employment in terms of four components:
• The change in the efficiency of the production process of old products: !"��� !"���� • The variation in the demand of old products: !"��� !"����. • The increase in production derived from new products:
%&&%''
(''(&&.
• The impacts of non-technological productivity disturbances: ��� ����.
The first component is expected to be greater in firms that undertake process
innovations (positive for a negative value inside the parentheses). The third component
incorporates the impact of the product innovations into the growth of employment derived
from the relative efficiency of the production of old and new products (��� ���⁄ ). If the new
products are produced more efficiently than the old products, this ratio will be less than the
unit.
10
Rewriting Equation (1) in terms of variation rates, we obtain:
! � )* # )�+� # ,� # -,� # ./�
where l corresponds to the variation rate of the employment between consecutive periods,
d is a dummy variable that identifies the process innovation (in absence of product
innovation), ,�is the variation rate of old products, and ,� is the variation of new products.
Finally, . � ��� ���� # 0 is a random disturbance, where ξ represents different
uncorrelated errors. Subtracting the variable ,� from both sides of the equation, we obtain:
! ,� � )* # )�+ # -,� # ./′�
In this equation, which is the equation to estimate, the parameter )* represents the
average growth of efficiency in producing old goods or services ( !"��� !"����)(with an
opposite sign), )� picks up the effect of only the process innovation, while -captures the
relative efficiency of producing old and new products. With time, an increase in the
efficiency of producing old products is expected, and therefore, that the parameter )* will
be negative, while )� will also be negative given that process innovation increases the
efficiency of producing old products, in absence of product innovation. At the same time, the
parameter -captures the relative efficiency of producing old and new products. If new
products are produced more efficiently than old products, this ratio will be less than the unit
and, therefore, employment will not increase as much as sales due to new products.
Because of its simplicity, this equation limits the distinction of other effects on
employment, given that they cannot be separated without the existence of more data. We
know, for example, that ,� is affected by three different forces: (1) the “autonomous”
variation of the demand for old products because of exogenous market conditions, (2) the
compensation effect brought about by changes in the prices of old products after process
innovations, and (3) the substitution effect caused by the introduction of new products. The
last two effects are expected to be positive and negative, respectively, for growth in the
sales due to old products. Without more data on demand, it is impossible to separate these
three effects, in accordance with Hall et al. (2007).
11
What follows is a summary of the results found by different authors using the HJMP
model (2008) for different countries in Europe and Latin America. The main characteristics of
the data bases and the coefficients obtained in these papers are presented in Table 1.2
Insert Table 1
In their seminal paper, HJMP (2008) study the relationship between innovation and
employment for Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Among their conclusions
for the manufacturing sector, they highlight that process innovation tends to displace
employment, although the compensation effect predominates, while product innovation is
associated with employment growth. There is no evidence of a displacement effect as a
result of product innovation, but there is a compensation effect, even when the
cannibalisation of old products is taken into account. In general, the results are similar in all
the countries. Specifically for Spain, there is no evidence of the displacement effect of
process innovation, perhaps because of a greater transfer of productivity in low prices.
Product innovation stands out in Germany and Spain, although the increase in employment
resulting from a greater production of old products is superior in Spain.
For the case of Italy, Hall et al. (2007) use data on manufacturing firms from the years
1995-2003, and adjust the variation of new products with the industrial price index. Again,
there is no evidence of the impact of process innovation on employment, while employment
growth originates from the growth of sales due to old products and sales due to new
products resulting from product innovation. In addition, the authors conclude that the
contribution of product innovation to employment growth is somewhat smaller than in the
four European countries studied in HJMP (2008).
In a first approach developed by Benavente and Lauterbach (2008) for Chilean firms
from the period 1998-2001, it is found that product innovations increase employment more
than previous studies had reported. With regard to process innovation, there is no evidence
to conclude that process innovation affects employment.
2 For a summary at the macroeconomic and industrial sector level, see Pianta (2005).
12
For the case of Brazil, Guerra and Leiva (2008) use data on the manufacturing sector
for the years 2001-2003, with some adjustments like the measurement of the different
impact on skilled and unskilled personnel in intensive firms.3 They find evidence that the
impact of technological innovation is biased because of the qualification of the personnel,
and they confirm that process innovation has no major effect on employment, while product
innovation tends to increase it significantly.
In 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) undertook a project called
“Employment Generation, Firm Size and Innovation in Latin America”. The study includes
manufacturing firms from Argentina, Chile4, Costa Rica and Uruguay. In all cases, the impact
of process and product innovation on employment is estimated using the HJMP model. At
the same time, the estimations try to describe different possible impacts according to firm
size, the composition of employment and the innovation strategies used by the firms. The
preliminary results were presented at the Fifth Conference on Micro Evidence on Innovation
in Developing Economies (MEIDE) in the papers by Aboal et al. (2011a y b), de Elejalde et al.
(2011), Monge-González et al. (2011) and Álvarez et al. (2011).
Specifically, using data on Uruguayan manufacturing firms5 from the years 1998-
2009, Aboal et al. (2011a) conclude that process innovation marginally displaces labour,
while product innovation is complementary to employment. Unlike other studies, a decline
in sales due to old products is detected, and as such, employment shrinks. In estimations
that differ according to the magnitude, technological level and strategy of the innovation,
they obtain similar results.
In the case of Argentina, de Elejalde et al. (2011), estimate the HJMP model for a
sample of manufacturing firms, obtained from a single survey from the year 2003 which
collects retrospective information about the state of the firms for every year in the period
3 This paper is not included in Table 1 because it is based on a previous version of the HJMP model and it does not deconstruct employment growth to identify the compensation and displacements effects. 4 For the case of Chile, the survey uses the establishment as a unit of analysis. 5 The same authors study the service sector in Uruguay, for the years 2004-2009. They conclude that the impact of product innovation on employment is positive, while process innovation does not seem to have any effect.
13
1998-20016. They find that, for those years, there is no significant evidence of the impact of
process innovation on employment. For product innovation, there are no important
differences between the efficiency of producing new products and the efficiency of
producing old ones. Therefore, on deconstructing employment growth, they conclude that
there is no evidence of the displacement effect as a consequence of introducing product
innovations. Employment is created only because of the effect of a greater demand for old
products. Furthermore, they do not find that process innovation affects employment,
because process innovation does not generate significant profits in productivity.
For Costa Rica, Monge-González et al. (2011) apply the HJMP model to a sample of
211 firms7, estimating the annual variations between the years 2006 and 2007. They
conclude that process innovation does not have a significant effect, and that there are no
appreciable differences in the efficiency between old and new products.
Lastly, Álvarez et al. (2011), using data on Chilean manufacturing firms from the
period 1999 to 2007, conclude that process innovation has no relevant impact on the
determination of employment growth, while product innovation is positively associated with
increases in employment, although there is greater efficiency in the production of old
products compared to new products.8 Unlike previous results, the net contribution of
product innovation to employment is negative, while there is evidence of a decrease in the
production of old products.
In another recent paper for fourteen European countries, Leitner et al. (2011)
estimate the HJMP model for manufacturing as well as services firms, incorporating
organisational innovation as an additional explanatory variable.9 They use three groups of
countries, according to geographic location and level of development, and they find that
6 That is, it has information about those firms that survived the crisis of 2001. 7 This study uses the smallest sample size of all the studies reviewed. This could be one of the reasons why there is a high value in the estimation of the parameter related to process innovation. 8 This paper uses surveys from the following years: 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2007. Moreover, the Innovation for Chile survey does not directly provide the percentage of sales associated with new products, but instead this information is obtained as categorised in large groups of percentages. In accordance with Álvarez et al. (2011), this makes the analysis and comparison of results more difficult. 9 For this reason, the results are not strictly comparable to those of previous studies and they are not included in the summary in Table 1.
14
there is a different impact of innovation on employment according to the country group in
question. Specifically, in the cases of manufacturing firms in countries in southern, central
and eastern Europe, they detect a positive effect of product innovation, while process
innovation operates contrary to the traditional model, creating an increase in employment.
For the central European countries (Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Sweden), they find
evidence of greater efficiency in producing new products due to product innovation
compared to the other countries studied.
Therefore, in most of the papers reviewed, there is little evidence of the impact of
process innovation on employment, although HJMP (2008) and Aboal et al. (2011a) suggest
the existence of some displacement effect, which is exceeded by the compensation effect.
As for the impact of product innovation on the relative efficiency of new products compared
to old products, a positive effect is found in most of the studies. Generally speaking, the net
contribution of product innovation is positive. However, in the context of a recession like
those observed in the papers that refer to Argentina and Uruguay, the net effect of product
innovation is negative, showing that despite the increase in sales due to new products, the
decrease in sales due to old products is much greater.
It is worth noting that other authors have studied the relationship between
innovation and employment with firm data that refer to longer periods of time and by using
approaches different from the HJMP model (2008). For Spain, Giulidori and Stucchi (2010)
use the Encuesta de Estrategias Empresariales (Survey of Business Strategies) to quantify, on
the basis of an equation for employment demand, the impact of process and product
innovation on permanent as well as temporary workers. Given the change in Spanish labour
laws, this condition is analysed to estimate the impact according to different periods of time.
In general, they suggest that their results are consistent with those obtained by HJMP
(2008), there is a greater effect on temporary workers than on permanent ones and this
effect is more immediate in the former than in the latter.
For a large sample of countries and European manufacturing and services firms,
Vivarelli et al. (2011) estimate an equation for employment demand, using panel data
15
techniques for the years 1990-2008. In particular, in this equation, similar to the one used by
Van Reenen (1997), the impact of innovation expenses on employment is analysed. The
conclusion reached is that R&D benefits not only European productivity and
competitiveness, but also the creation of employment.
Another important recent example is the paper by Lachenmaier and Rottmann
(2011), who study the effect of innovation on employment for German firms, covering the
period from 1982 to 2002. Using a dynamic panel, they find that the effects of innovation on
employment are robust and, surprisingly, that process innovation has a greater effect than
product innovation.
IV. Estimation strategy
As mentioned above, this paper will follow the methodology set out by HJMP (2008).
This methodology has frequently been applied to cross-sectional data. As will be seen below,
this study uses panel data, which is why separate estimations will be made not only for each
cross-section but for the entire period as well. This requires making some clarifications about
the estimation strategy, and they are included at the end of this section.
In Equation (2), the variables for growth in sales due to old products,,�, and growth
in sales due to new products, ,�, are in real terms, but often only the nominal growth of
sales is observed in data bases. That is, in the case of old products, we observe:
2� � 34����� 4�����4����� 5,
where 2� is the nominal growth rate of sales due to old products, which can be
approximated as the sum of the variation of real production and the variation of prices of
old products; that is, 2� � ,� # 6�. For new products, given that they are not produced in
Period 1, only nominal sales from Period 2 are observed and it is possible to estimate the
variation in relation to the level of sales of all the products from Period 1. Then, the nominal
growth rate of new products is 2� � 78''(''8&&(&&9, or 2� � ,�1 # 6�� � ,� # ,�6�, where 6� �
16
78'':8&&8&& 9 is the proportional difference in the prices of new products relative to the prices of
old products.
Substituting the relationships in Equation (2’), the resulting equation to estimate
would be
! 2� � )* # )�+ # -2� # ;,<�
where the new disturbance is ; � 6� -6�,� # ., assuming a not-null average 6�. The
model will now include – >6�� in the constant and 6�–>6��� in the disturbance.
Notice that, given that 2� � ,� # 6�,�, 2� will be correlated to the error term,
which will generate biases in estimation by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS).
In accordance with HJMP (2008), an alternative would be to incorporate the price
index corresponding to each industry (6) as a proxy for 6�. This means that:
! 2� � )* # )�+ # -2� 6� -6�,� # .3´�
! 2� 6� � )* # )�+ # -2� # 6� 6� -6�,�� ��� ���� # 0,3´´�
so that the dependent variable becomes: ! 2� 6�.
To estimate the relevant parameters, the independent variables and the error term
need to be uncorrelated or, failing that, the existence of instrumental variables (VI)
correlated to independent variables but not to the error term. The lack of correlation
between the variables and the error term depends on this model’s supposed specific theory
about the characteristics of the disturbance and the firm’s timing of investments in
technological innovations. That is:
• If it is expected that the decisions to invest in technological innovations are made before
the impact of the disturbance, then the innovations will not be correlated with the error
term nor with its components.
17
• If it is supposed that firms make investments between periods 1 and 2, where
disturbances ω are also present, then a correlation would exist. One possible solution
would be to use the lagged values of the variables assuming they are not correlated with
the error. These values could be valid instruments. On the other hand, if autocorrelation
is observed in ω, then the present value of the error term depends on past values, and as
such, the innovations would be correlated with the past values of the error term. In this
case, lagged variables would not be a valid instrument, and the identification problem
must be solved with instrumental variables uncorrelated with the error term.
Give these caveats, in general, the circumstances in which investments are made
(and when they are planned) do not consider unforeseeable (or inaccurately predicted)
productivity shocks. As a result, an estimation by OLS makes no sense. In addition,
investments in R&D are usually made long enough in advance of the innovations that they
possibly generate with a certain persistence, so they might be positively related to the
disturbances of productivity ω, which is why the estimated parameters would be downward
biased.
Note that in the HJMP model (2008), the key variables are defined as variation rates
between two periods which, given the type of information available in the innovation
surveys, usually correspond to the years t and t-3. The consistent estimation of this model
requires non-correlation between the independent variable and the error term; that is,
>@A�� A��:B�.�� .��:B�C � 0. This condition is weaker than strict exogeneity, but the
important point is that the previous supposition is erroneous if .�� is correlated with A��:B ,
A�� or A���B, or in general terms A�E is correlated with .�� for all t and s. This point is
problematic when .�� is correlated with future values of A��.
The solution endorsed by HJMP (2008) for this problem is the use of instrumental
variables. In their case, these variables are related to the effects of product innovation, as
are the increase in the range of products, the improvement in the quality of the products
and the larger market share. Furthermore, clients are evaluated as instruments like sources
of information and variables related to internal R&D activities. Other studies that use the
HJMP model (2008) use similar instruments, and they will also be used in this paper.
18
To summarise, given the character of the model, first equation (3’) will be estimated
separately for each triannual period using a basic version of the OLS-type, to correct
afterwards through the use of instrumental variables, verifying the existence of endogeneity
and rejecting those weak instruments.
Secondly, the model will be estimated for the entire period, that is, using the
variations of the four triannual periods, first as a pooled model, then pooled with
instrumental variables. Finally, using the panel structure of the data, fixed effects models as
well as random effects models are estimated with instrumental variables procedures.
Note that, in this second case, to estimate the standard error of the model
parameters, it must be considered that ∆.�� could present serial correlation. In the presence
of autocorrelation, the standard errors and the usual statistical contrasts are not valid. To
evaluate the supposition of non-correlation of the errors in the differences model, the
simple test proposed by Wooldridge (2002) will be used.
V. Data base
The data used come from the Panel of Technological Innovation (PITEC) for the years
2004-2010. The PITEC is a statistical instrument for following technological innovation
activities of Spanish firms, and is constructed with the format of a data panel by the National
Institute of Statistics (initialled INE in Spanish) on the basis of the Survey about Innovation in
Firms and Statistics about R&D Activities. The panel covers all the business sectors gathered
in the National Classification of Economic Activities (NACE)10. In general, the sample sizes
differ among years because of firm demographics, with an exceptional increase in 2005.
The PITEC contains detailed information about firm characteristics, sales,
employment, innovative activity, the effects of this activity, and sources of information for
10 The NACE Rev. 1.1 classification corresponds to the years 2004-2008, while the NACE Rev. 2 corresponds to the years 2008-2010. Given the panel structure of PITEC, for years 2004-2007 it was possible to reclassify most of the firms with the most updated code of the NACE Rev.2, assuming the economic activity did not change during the period.
19
innovation. In general, the questions gather information using two reference periods. The
reference period for questions about sales and number of workers is the year immediately
before the year the information was collected. The variables related to the existence and
characteristics of technological innovations implemented by the firm refer to the last three
years in order to facilitate international comparability (INE, 2009). Owing to these two
different reference periods, there are difficulties in making interannual estimations with
regard to the impact of process or product innovations on employment. The present study
will use only manufacturing firm data that refer to the following four overlapping triennia:
2004-2007, 2005-2008, 2006-2009, 2007-2010.11
The data described below refer to the average of the triannual variations of the main
variables used in the model. The description of the variables will be given for all
manufacturing firms, by type of innovating firm and by triannual period. To define the sales
due to old products in real terms, the industrial price index (base year 2010) produced by the
INE will be used as a deflator.
Considering all the triannual variations, a decrease in employment is observed, lower
among firms that undertake both types of innovations and higher among firms that do not
innovate at all (see Table 2). For the first and second triennia, employment increases, then
falls during years of economic recession in Spain. Among non-innovating firms, all periods
show a decrease in employment.
Insert Table 2
Considering all three-year periods, the sales of products grow by an average of 2.4%.
The first triennium observed shows an increase of 25.7%, while in the last period, the
decrease is by 17.6%. By type of good, sales due to old products fall an average of 30%,
while sales due to new products increase 24% in real terms. As such, sales of new or
improved products are an important component in the increase in total sales. Sales due to
new products supplant part of the production of old products among firms that undertake
product innovations.
11 A detailed description of the variables used and the reference periods can be found in Appendices 1 and 2, respectively.
20
To summarize, employment on average diminishes less in firms that innovate,
especially firms with simultaneous product and process innovations. For firms with product
innovations, the demand for old products always diminishes, but the increase in the number
of sales due to new products compensates and exceeds this diminishing. All of this suggests
that compensation effects due to the introduction of new products are more frequent in the
first periods and less frequent during periods of recession.
Table 3 summarises the main statistics of the different instruments used according to
the HJMP model (2008). For Spain, and considering the period 2007-2010, the main source
of information for the innovation is still the firm itself, followed by clients and suppliers.
Noteworthy among the effects of product innovation is the increase in the range of
products, and increased markets.
Insert Table 3
With regard to internal R&D activities, three possible instruments are defined: first,
quantifying the number of years that the firm spends on internal R&D during the last three
years; second, identifying those firms for which this expense is constant throughout the
triennium; and finally, the proportion of spending on internal R&D with regard to firm sales.
Seventy-three percent of firms that obtain both innovations (product and process) maintain
their spending on internal R&D throughout the triennium. It should be noted that, on
average, firms commit more spending when they undertake at least one product innovation,
tripling the spending of firms that do not obtain process and product innovations.
VI. Econometric results
The results of estimating equation (3’) are estimated below.12 All the estimations are
made including dummy variables from the industrial sector.13 Initially, the estimations for
the triannual variations 2004-2007, 2005-2008, 2006-2009, and 2007-2010 are presented.
12 The adjusted and successful models are presented according to different endogeneity tests, strength of instruments and validity tests of overidentifying restrictions. 13 The coefficients of the dummy variables are restricted to add up to zero with the purpose of conserving the interpretation of the constant (Suits, 1984).
21
Then, these periods are estimated together via panel data techniques. Finally, the
contribution of innovation to employment growth is decomposed using the average values
of the variables.
As can be observed in the first five columns of Table 4, on estimating the model by
OLS, one obtains a positive coefficient for the constant, which represents the average
growth of efficiency in producing old products with an opposite sign. Different from the
findings of other studies, there is a loss of average efficiency in the production of old
products, especially for the period 2007-2010. Among firms that undertake only process
innovation, the signs and values are the ones expected, although decreasing in time. Finally,
the relative efficiency of producing new products compared to old products increases with
the passage of time. Note that, if the parameter is less than 1, it suggests that new products
are produced more efficiently than old products. However, given the endogeneity of
unobserved prices or measurement errors, it is likely that the bias is low for this coefficient,
presenting an apparently greater efficiency of old products compared to new ones.
Insert Table 4
The last five columns of Table 4 present the results of applying instrumental variables
to correct the endogeneity problem that exists among unobserved non-technological shocks
and product innovation. These instrumental variables define the importance that the firm
gives to innovation for increasing the range of products and improving the quality of the
products, along with the number of years firms spend internally on R&D during the
triennium14. It is confirmed that overidentification restrictions are valid for each period and
for all the years as a whole.
In general, on estimating with instrumental variables, a drop in the average efficiency
of producing old products is observed. The constant in the first two triennia has the
expected sign according to the empirical evidence of other studies. However, for the
variations of the years 2006-2009 and 2007-2010, the positive estimations reflect a loss of
14The definition and the construction of the variables are outlined in Appendix 1.
22
efficiency of old products, showing a bigger decrease in sales due to old products than in
employment in these firms.
On evaluating the impact of process innovation on the efficiency of old products, the
result is statistically negative only for the 2005-2008 triennium. For the other triennia, there
is no significant evidence. This conclusion is in line with most empirical studies based on the
HJMP model (2008).
As for the impact of product innovation, all the values are less than 1. From the
triennium 2004-2007 to the triennium 2006 to 2009, a loss of relative efficiency is observed.
However, for the 2007-2010 triennium, there is a strong downward correction This
adjustment is probably due to the greater efficiency in the production of new products
among the firms that maintain them during this period.
As a test of robustness, Table 5 shows the estimations of the model, distinguishing
between products that are new to the market and products that are new to the firm. Using
an OLS estimation, the process innovation estimations are lower compared to the estimation
which does not distinguish between types of product innovation. For relative efficiency of
old and new products, in general, the values are slightly higher than the estimation that does
not distinguish between types of product innovation. Also, when comparing the parameters
of new-to-the-market and new-to-the-firm product innovations, it is observed that there is
no significant difference for the trienia analysed except the 2006-2009 triennium, in which
there is a difference shading to a greater relative efficiency of new-to-the-market products
relative to old products. This estimation is preliminary, given that it has not been corrected
because of the endogeneity in the variables related to sales growth. Furthermore, a possible
interaction effect among both types of product innovation has not been evaluated.15
Insert Table 5
15 Preliminarily, estimations for both endogenous variables were made, and no significant values were found for the estimations of sales variations of new goods for the firm and for the market. However, for the years 2004-2007, there is an estimation that is coherent with the theory. These results are available upon request.
23
Also, separate estimations were made for firms with fewer and more than 200
workers because of the PITEC’s distinct degree of representativity in each of these
subsamples (see Table 6). The results in general confirm the results obtained for the whole
of the sample, although with some different features. With regard to the relative efficiency
of new products compared to old ones, in the first three triennia, small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) present better numbers than large firms (a value further from 1), but in
the last triennium, it is observed that this regularity is inverted.
Insert Table 6
In conclusion, the estimations for each triennium show two regularities. During the
two triennia prior to the crisis (2004-2007 and 2005-2008), the results are similar to other
studies: the efficiency variation of old products has a negative sign, associated with an
improvement in the efficiency of said products. Furthermore, process innovation is
significant only for the 2005-2008 triennium. At the same time, the coefficient associated
with product innovation is less than one, and as such, it is a clear sign that new products are
produced efficiently. However, for the following triennia, in the context of economic
recession, the results change significantly. For one, the production of old products loses
efficiency (values with a positive sign in the constant), and process innovation, as in previous
research, ceases to be important. Finally, efficiency in the production of new products
increases dramatically for the last triennium. This could be a consequence of a greater
adjustment in the firms’ labour force even though the sale of new products represents a
smaller proportion of sales than in previous periods.
It is possible to obtain better estimations using the panel data available in the PITEC.
In general, panel data allows one to exploit the time variation to separate the permanent
cross-variation so that consistent estimations of regression parameters may be obtained,
given certain conditions.16 The HJMP model (2008) by definition eliminates the unobserved
fixed factors through the first difference among the years that make up the triennium. This
allows us to have an unbalanced panel for four periods.
16 For more details, see Arellano and Bover (1990) and Baltagi (2008).
24
The results obtained considering the structure of panel data are presented in Table 7.
To establish a point of comparison, in the first two columns of the table the results of
estimating by OLS and VI are repeated, taking all the information as a pool. Given the
possible existence of first-order serial correlation, the Wooldridge test (2002) is estimated,
and it is found that the errors are serially uncorrelated.
With both procedures, the values and signs obtained for the parameters of the
structural model confirm what was expected. However, the parameters corresponding to
the time dummies are positive, explaining a continuous loss of efficiency in the production of
old products as the crisis deepens. Said loss is clear on comparing the values of the 2005-
2008 and 2006-2009 triennia. This would confirm that there are two clear periods in the
sample: the first two triennia, which correspond to the years prior to or at the start of the
Spanish economic crisis; and the last two triennia, which include the years of the crisis. There
is no statistically significant difference between the parameters of these last two triennia.
Insert Table 7
The last three columns of Table 7 present the results of estimating the model by
using VI and considering alternatively different suppositions about unobservable individual
effects, fixed or random, although in this case, given the construction in differences of the
structural model, specifying random effects seems to be preferable, which is confirmed on
performing the Hausman test.
The results again confirm the signs expected by the HJMP model (2008), with process
innovation that increases the efficiency of producing old products, a constant that indicates
the average increase in the efficiency of producing old products in the entire sample, and a
greater relative efficiency in the production of new products compared to old ones.
Therefore, there is clear evidence of significant differences in the relative efficiency
of producing old products, among periods of growth and periods of recession. Process
innovation does displace employment, while product innovation presents a greater relative
efficiency compared to old products.
25
To finish this section, now we proceed to calculate the contribution of innovation to
employment growth. The HJMP model (2008) makes it possible to decompose the average
employment growth in the following four components:
! � ∑ )H* #I )H*I��"+I # )H�+ # J1 12� K 0�L2� 6�� # 12� K 0�M2� 6� # -N2�O # .H ,
where )H*I are the estimated coefficients; �"+I denotes the industry dummies;
∑ )H* #I )H*I��"+I measures the change in employment attributable to the trend of
productivity in the production of old products; )H�+ reflects the change in employment
associated with the effect of the gross productivity of process innovation in the production
of old products; J1 12� K 0�L2� 6�� is the change in employment related to the
growth of producing old products from firms that do not create new products; 12� K0�M2� 6� # -N2�O corresponds to the net contribution of product innovation (that is,
contribution after taking into account the substitution of new products for old products);
and .H is the error term with zero mean.
Table 8 shows the decomposition performed on the basis of the results obtained
through instrumental variables for each triannual period17. In accordance with the empirical
evidence collected, the contributions obtained for the periods 2004-2007 and 2005-2008
have the expected signs. The increase in the efficiency of old products contributes to a
reduction in employment. Furthermore, process innovation displaces employment, although
marginally with regard to the total change in employment for these periods. As a
compensation effect, the increase in the production of old products among those firms that
do not have product innovations counteracts part of the displacement effect resulting from
the greater efficiency in the production of old products. Among firms that undertake product
innovations, new products contribute to the increase in employment by 25.6% (2004-2007)
and 26.4% (2005-2008), an increase that counteracts the loss of employment as a result of a
lower production of old products among these firms. As such, the net contribution of
product innovators generates an important compensation effect, explaining the increase in
17 The descriptive statististics from Table A.1 in Appendix 3 and the estimations from instrumental variables in Table 4 are used.
26
employment in these periods. These results are in line with the estimations obtained by
Harrison et al (2008).
Insert Table 8
How do different contributions behave in periods of recession? We can see a
decrease in employment in the 2006-2009 and 2007-2010 triennia. In these periods, process
innovation maintains values similar to other periods and other studies. However, the
contribution of sales due to old products among firms that do not undertake product
innovation has a negative impact on employment as a consequence of the big drop in sales.
Meanwhile, in firms that have product innovation, the effect of the fall of sales due
to old products reduces employment more than what is oberved in previous triennia, while
production of new products increases employment, but less than those observed previously.
Therefore, it does not manage to counteract the fall in the sales due to old products. This
occurs through less sales due to new products, going from almost 50% of sales in the first
two triennia to only 33% of sales in the last two. Moreover, sales due to old products fall in
the first two triennia between 19% and 28% and in the last two between 44% and 48%.
However, given the loss of efficiency in the production of old products in relation to
the years 2004-2006 and 2005-2007, respectively, a compensation effect counteracts the
decrease in employment. This loss of efficiency allows employment to increase between
12.2% and 12.9%. This unexpected effect contributes to counteracting the decrease in
employment during these periods, which totaled 7.7% (2006-2009) and 11.8% (2007-2010).
Table 9 shows the same decomposition, distinguishing between sub-samples of firms
with fewer and more than 200 workers.18 The results confirm the differences between the
periods prior to and during the economic crisis. For the triannual periods 2004-2007 and
2005-2008, large firms increase employment more than SMEs. Among large firms, the main
factor that contributes to the growth of employment is the net contribution of product
innovation. This same factor is quite high among SMEs for the period 2004-2007, but in the
18 The descriptive statistics from Table A.2 in Appendix 3 and the estimations by instrumental variables from Table 6 are used.
27
following triannual period, it greatly decreases. Another factor that contributes to the
average growth of employment is the greater production of old products, a stable factor
among large firms, but a decreasing factor among SMEs in the last period. These factors
confirm that the impacts of the crisis are first noted in small firms.
Insert Table 9
In the 2006-2009 and 2007-2010 triennia, employment falls in both types of firms.
For the first triennium indicated, the decrease in employment among large firms is
substantially smaller, although with a negative contribution from product innovation and
also from the sales due to old products among firms that do not undertake product
innovation. Only the loss of efficiency in the production of old products can contain the
decreases in employment. For the 2007-2010 triennium, these factors increase their fall,
especially product innovation, whose net contribution in both types of firms is -15%. Again,
the loss of efficiency in the production of old products is configured as an important
compensation effect.
To summarise, employment drops more sharply in SMEs than in large firms. Among
SMEs, product innovation does not compensate for the fall of sales due to old products, but
instead transforms into a displacement effect. Only the loss of efficiency in the production of
old products reduces the falls in employment. Among large firms, these effects are smaller in
the first triennia, although in 2007-2010, they behave similarly to SMEs.
VII. Conclusions
It is important to know the impact of innovation on employment and how this impact
is transmitted to the economy. Those who make policy decisions see a great opportunity to
promote innovation as a motor of growth stemming from improved efficiency in firms, in
their production process as well as in the insertion of new or improved products into the
market.
With the aim of contributing to this debate, this study estimates the contribution of
product and process innovations of Spanish manufacturing firms, using the structural model
28
proposed by HJMP (2008). This makes an excellent case study, as it has data for a period of
the Spanish economy that includes years of growth as well as years of recession.
The results of estimating said model with different econometric methods
demonstrate the existence of two periods with different effects of product innovation on
employment. On one hand, in periods prior to the crisis, employment increases as a
consequence of the increase of sales due to old products among firms that do not undertake
product innovation, but employment also increases among firms that do pursue product
innovation, although they displace part of the production of old products for new ones.
However, for the periods covered by the crisis, employment falls as a consequence of
lower sales. Process innovation maintains its displacement effect to the same degree as in
the previous periods, and the contribution of sales due to old products among firms that do
not pursue product innovation is around -9%, while the net contribution among firms that
do undertake product innovation is between -11% and -15%.
Why do innovating firms present more negative impacts? For one, the proportion of
firms that undertake product innovation increase in the period of the crisis, and the
participation of the sales due to new products over total sales loses importance, such that
the compensation effect of product innovation does not exceed the displacement effect of
lower sales due to old products among these firms. The only factor that compensates for
these displacement effects comes from the lower efficiency in the production of old
products, which increases the employment required for a given level of production. This
might be a result of a smaller adjustment in the employment of old products, which is linked
to a greater proportion of permanent workers, with less chance of being fired according to
adjustments in the firm’s level of sales.
Finally, on distinguishing according to firm size, better efficiency in the production of
new products is observed in those firms that have fewer than 200 workers. With regard to
process innovation, regardless of size, it is not significant in the periods studied. Again it is
confirmed that there is a continuous loss in the efficiency of producing old products,
especially in large firms.
29
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31
Appendix 1: Construction of variables
Variables Description
Employment growth Growth rate of employment between t and t-3.
Percentage of sales due to old products
Percentage of the sales due to old products with respect to total sales from the same year.
Percentage of sales due to new-to-the-market products
Percentage of the sales due to products that are new to the market with respect to total sales from the same year.
Percentage of sales due to new-to-the-firm products
Percentage of the sales due to products that are new to the firm with respect to total sales from the same year.
Sales growth due to old products Growth rate of the sales due to old products between t and t-3.
Sales growth due to new products Growth rate of the sales due to new products between t and t-3.
Prices growth Growth rate of prices between t and t-3. The series of “industry price indices” from the Spanish Statistical Institute are used (base year: 2010).
Process innovation Dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the firm reports that it has implemented new or significantly improved production processes during the period.
Process innovation only Dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the firm reports that it has implemented new or significantly improved production processes during the period but has not implemented any product innovation.
Product innovation Dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the firm reports that it has introduced new or significantly improved products during the period.
Industry variables PITEC’s own classifier is used, based on the NACE 2009.
Sources
These variables refer to multiple channels that the firm uses as sources of information for innovations. The answers are classified as 1 if the firm reports the source was irrelevant, 2 if it had a small impact, 3 if it had a moderate impact and 4 if it had a large impact.
Effects
These variables refer to multiple effects or aims of the innovation undertaken by the firm. The answers are classified as 1 if the firm reports that the source was irrelevant, 2 if it had a small impact, 3 if it had a moderate impact and 4 if it had a large impact.
Years of R&D engagement Variable that adds the number of years that the firm undertakes intramural R&D expenditures from t-2 to t.
Continuous R&D engagement Dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the firms reports continuous engagement in intramural R&D activities during the period.
R&D effort Average R&D expenditure with respect to total sales during the period.
32
Appendix 2: Time structure of the questions about innovation, sales and employment
In general, the PITEC panel has information for the years 2004-2010. In each survey
year, information is gathered on employees in the firm, investments in technology, turnover,
and developments in process and product innovation. This last bit of information uses the
last three years (including the year of the survey) as a reference period. As such, the
definition of old products in accordance with the HJMP model (2008) requires period 1 not
to cover the possible innovations declared in order to measure the effect of innovation on
the sales due to new products.
Appendix 3: Complementary Statistics
Table A.1: Descriptive statistics by type of innovator (2004-2010)
2004-
2007
2005-
2008
2006-
2009
2007-
2010 Total
No. of firms 4518 5259 5132 4873 19784
Non-innovators (%) 23.7 22.5 21.4 20.6 22.0
Process innovators only (%) 16.8 16.7 16.1 15.5 16.3
Product innovators (%) 59.5 60.8 62.5 63.9 61.7
Product innovators only 16.8 16.4 15.0 14.5 15.7
Product and process innovators 42.7 44.4 47.5 49.4 46.1
Employment growth (%)
All firms 4.0 1.7 -7.7 -11.8 -3.6
Non-innovators -2.7 -4.4 -12.8 -17.4 -9.0
Process innovators only 5.5 2.5 -8.5 -11.5 -3.1
Product innovators 6.1 3.7 -5.7 -10.1 -1.9
Product innovators only 2.5 1.1 -10.1 -14.7 -5.1
Product and process innovators 7.6 4.6 -4.3 -8.7 -0.8
Sales growth (%)
All firms 25.7 17.3 -12.6 -17.6 2.4
Non-innovators 16.6 7.8 -18.7 -23.9 -4.3
Process innovators only 27.2 21.3 -11.9 -18.2 4.1
Product innovators 28.9 19.7 -10.7 -15.4 4.3
Sales growth due to old products -18.9 -27.5 -44.1 -47.6 -35.4
Sales growth due to new products 47.9 47.2 33.4 32.3 39.7
Prices growth (%)
All firms 10.9 10.2 5.8 5.0 7.9
Non-innovators 11.1 10.5 6.5 5.3 8.4
Process innovators only 11.5 10.9 6.3 5.3 8.5
Product innovators 10.6 9.9 5.5 4.9 7.6
Product innovators only 9.9 9.6 5.4 4.4 7.4
Product and process innovators 10.9 10.1 5.5 5.1 7.7
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010.
Table A.2: Descriptive statistics by type of innovator and size of firm (2004-2010)
Fewer than 200 employees Equal to or more than 200 employees
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total 2004-
2007
2005-
2008
2006-
2009
2007-
2010
Total
No. of firms 1052 1025 894 857 3822 3466 4234 4238 4016 15963
Non-innovators (%) 18.3 15.1 13.9 12.5 15.1 25.3 24.2 23.0 22.4 23.7
Process innovators only (%) 17.2 15.8 13.5 12.6 14.9 16.7 16.9 16.6 16.1 16.6
Product innovators (%) 64.5 69.1 72.6 74.9 70.0 57.9 58.8 60.4 61.6 59.7
Product innovators only 10.3 10.1 8.8 7.9 9.4 18.7 17.9 16.3 15.9 17.2
Product and process innovators 54.3 58.9 63.8 67.0 60.6 39.2 40.9 44.1 45.7 42.6
Employment growth (%)
All firms 7.8 5.8 -1.2 -4.6 2.2 2.8 0.7 -9.1 -13.4 -5.1
Non-innovators 6.6 7.4 3.4 0.8 5.3 -4.7 -6.2 -14.9 -19.6 -11.2
Process innovators only 4.9 2.0 -4.9 -5.2 -0.2 5.7 2.6 -9.1 -12.6 -3.7
Product innovators 8.9 6.3 -1.4 -5.4 2.1 5.2 2.9 -6.8 -11.3 -3.0
Product innovators only 7.0 3.6 0.5 -4.1 2.3 1.7 0.8 -11.4 -15.8 -6.0
Product and process innovators 9.2 6.8 -1.6 -5.5 2.0 6.9 3.8 -5.2 -9.8 -1.8
Sales growth (%) All firms 27.0 21.9 -4.5 -9.0 9.2 25.3 16.1 -14.3 -19.4 0.7 Non-innovators 22.3 18.4 -4.3 -8.6 9.0 15.4 6.2 -20.5 -25.7 -6.4 Process innovators only 21.1 24.2 -1.9 -8.8 9.6 29.1 20.6 -13.7 -19.7 3.0 Product innovators 29.9 22.1 -5.1 -9.1 9.1 28.6 19.0 -12.1 -17.0 2.9 Sales growth due to old products -12.6 -16.7 -34.5 -39.2 -26.2 -21.1 -30.6 -46.5 -49.8 -38.0
Sales growth due to new products 42.5 38.8 29.5 30.1 35.2 49.7 49.5 34.4 32.8 41.0
Prices growth (%)
All firms 11.3 9.7 4.9 4.9 7.9 10.7 10.4 6.0 5.1 8.0
Non-innovators 11.3 10.0 6.3 5.5 8.8 11.1 10.6 6.5 5.2 8.4
Process innovators only 12.2 10.9 4.6 5.7 9.0 11.2 10.9 6.6 5.2 8.4
Product innovators 11.0 9.3 4.7 4.6 7.5 10.5 10.1 5.7 5.0 7.7
Product innovators only 10.1 8.9 4.0 4.3 7.3 9.8 9.7 5.6 4.4 7.5
Product and process innovators 11.2 9.4 4.8 4.7 7.5 10.7 10.3 5.7 5.2 7.7
36
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010.
Table 1: Summary of previous estimations of the HJMP model (2008)
Authors Country Period Survey
Estimated Coefficients
Sargan Test
(p-value)
No. of
firms
Constant
J PQR$/ PQR$$�L
Process
innovation only
PQS$/ PQS$$�
Sales growth
due to new
products
HJMP (2008)
France 1998-2002 CIS3 -3.44*** (0.77) -1.37 (1.55) 0.97*** (0.06) 2.08 (0.36) 4631
Germany 1998-2001 CIS3 -6.32*** (1.30) -6.80*** (2.90) 0.97*** (0.06) 2.74 (0.25) 1319
Spain 1998-2000 CIS3 5.99*** (0.88) 2.35 (1.76) 1.01*** (0.04) 0.54 (0.76) 4548
U. K. 1998-2003 CIS3 6.30*** (0.85) 3.51** (1.85) 0.99*** (0.05) 1.93 (0.38) 2533
Germany 1998-2001 CIS3 -7.30*** (1.36) -6.11*** (2.92) 1.02*** (0.07) 0.03 (0.86) 1319
Hall et al. (2007)
Italy 1995-1997 MCC -2.98** (1.23) -1.84 (1.29) 0.96*** (0.10) 1.45 (0.69) 4290
Italy 1998-2000 MCC -5.84*** (0.71) 0.18 (0.87) 0.94*** (0.04) 0.91 (0.82) 4618
Italy 2001-2003 MCC 1.91* (0.91) -1.15 (1.31) 1.07*** (0.07) 13.53 (0.00) 4040
Italy 2001-2004 MCC -2.80*** (1.14) -1.22** (0.66) 0.95*** (0.04) 1.74 (0.63) 12948
Benavente y Lauterbach (2008) Chile 1998-2001 ChNIS -0.42*** (0.12) 0.13 (0.24) 0.55*** (0.18) 0.05 (0.83) 514
De Elejalde et al. (2011) Argentina 1998-2001 ENIT01 -0.70 (3.03) 0.77 (1.59) 1.16*** (0.12) 3.21 (0.07) 1415
Aboal et al. (2011a) Uruguay 1998-2009 MIS 1.54*** (0.65) -2.61*** (1.10) 0.96*** (0.04) 2.78 (0.73) 2532
Monge-González et al. (2011) Costa Rica 2006-2007 CRIS -8.80** (4.59) 18.86** (10.13) 1.02*** (0.05) 2.18 (0.14) 208
Álvarez et al. (2011) Chile 1995, 1998, 2001, 2007
ChNIS -1.99 (2.79) 0.30 (2.50) 1.74*** (0.63) 2.32 (0.31) 2049
Source: Own elaboration. See references. Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01.
37
Table 2: Descriptive statistics by type of innovator. Manufacturing firms (2004-2010)(a)
Non-
innovator
Process
innovator only
Product
innovator only
Process and product
innovator Total
Number of firms 4357 3218 3099 9113 19787
Employment growth(b) -7.49 -3.31 -4.42 -0.38 -3.04
Percentage of sales due to old products 100 100 60.64 61.68 76.19
Percentage of sales due to new-to-the-market products 0 0 15.56 15.44 9.55
Percentage of sales due to new-to-the-firm products 0 0 23.81 22.88 14.26
Sales growth due to old products (nominal) -4.27 4.21 -37.97 -34.60 -22.14
Sales growth due to old products (real) -12.69 -4.31 -45.43 -42.27 -30.08
Sales growth due to new-to-the-market products (nominal) 0 0 15.82 16.22 9.95
Sales growth due to new-to-the-firm products (nominal) 0 0 23.29 23.72 14.57
Sales growth due to new products (nominal) 0 0 39.11 39.94 24.52
Sales growth due to new products (real) 0 0 31.65 32.26 19.82
Sales growth (real) -12.69 -4.31 -6.32 -2.34 -5.56
Productivity growth (base 2005) 1.17 2.78 1.02 1.47 1.55
Prices growth (%) 8.43 8.52 7.46 7.68 7.95
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010. Notes: (a) Growth rates correspond to the following triannual periods: 2004-2007, 2005-2008, 2006-2009, 2007-2010. (b) The final sample is composed of firms that have triannual variations with an average growth lower than the 99th percentile, in all the growth rates of number of employees, sales, for the total as well as for new and old products.
38
Table 3: Sample means of evaluated instruments by type of innovator (2004-2010)
Non-
innovator
Process innovator
only
Product innovator
only
Process and product
innovator Total
Sources (a)(b)
Within firm or group 1.50 3.00 3.20 3.50 2.90
Supply team 1.30 2.40 2.30 2.70 2.30
Clients 1.30 2.10 2.60 2.90 2.30
Competitors 1.30 1.80 2.20 2.40 2.00
Consultants, laboratories and private institutes 1.20 1.80 1.80 2.10 1.80
Universities 1.20 1.50 1.60 1.80 1.60
Public research institutes 1.10 1.40 1.50 1.70 1.50
Technological centers 1.20 1.60 1.70 2.00 1.70
Conferences, fairs, expositions 1.20 1.80 2.10 2.40 2.00
Scientific journals, technical publications 1.20 1.70 2.00 2.20 1.90
Professional or Industrial Association 1.20 1.60 1.70 1.90 1.70
Effects (a)(b)
Expansion of range of products 1.40 2.10 3.10 3.30 2.70
Market Increase 1.50 2.20 2.90 3.20 2.70
Improvement in quality of products 1.40 2.50 3.00 3.30 2.70
Improvement in production flexibility 1.30 2.80 2.10 3.00 2.40
Increase in productive capacity 1.30 2.70 2.10 3.00 2.40
Reduction of labor costs 1.20 2.40 2.00 2.80 2.20
Reduction of materials and energy 1.30 2.20 1.90 2.60 2.20
Reduction of environmental impact 1.30 2.20 2.20 2.70 2.20
Compliance with regulations 1.10 1.30 1.40 1.50 1.30
Years of R&D engagement (c) 0.73 2.06 2.42 2.73 2.12
Continuous R&D engagement (%) (d) 16.57 36.36 64.62 73.01 53.01
R&D expenditure/sales (%) 1.48 2.93 4.42 4.77 3.67
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010.
39
Notes: (a) The value presented in each category corresponds to the average considering the following categories of answers: Does not apply/Not important (1), low importance (2), moderate importance (3), high importance (4). (b) Although firms do not undertake process or product innovations, they might pursue some other innovation (organizational or marketing) and therefore respond to these questions. (c) Years of R&D engagement: Qualitative variable that adds the number of years that the firm undertakes innovation from t-2 to t. (d) Dummy variable which takes the value 1 if the firms reports continuous engagement in intramural R&D activities during the period.
40
Table 4: Estimations by OLS and IV
OLS IV
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total 2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Constant 3.91** 0.36 12.72*** 13.43*** -1.98* -0.66 -4.28* 9.21*** 11.61*** -5.44***
(1.39) (1.28) (0.86) (0.89) (0.91) (1.97) (1.93) (1.54) (1.42) (1.01)
Process innovation only -8.63*** -11.30*** -5.98*** -2.44* -7.05*** -3.57 -6.57** -2.61 -0.64 -3.73***
(1.95) (1.78) (1.26) (1.20) (0.89) (2.34) (2.22) (1.75) (1.64) (0.99) Sales growth due to new products 0.75*** 0.77*** 0.82*** 0.82*** 0.79*** 0.90*** 0.92*** 0.95*** 0.90*** 0.90***
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02) (0.01) (0.01) (0.05) (0.04) (0.05) (0.05) (0.02)
No. of firms 4518 5259 5132 4873 19784 4518 5259 5132 4873 19785
R2 0.45 0.43 0.31 0.29 0.36 0.39 0.41 0.44 0.47 0.44
R2 first stage 0.38 0.41 0.44 0.47 0.44
Sargan test 1.98 0.11 0.40 1.26 2.99
p-value 0.37 0.94 0.81 0.53 0.22
Endogeneity test 11.60 11.30 7.90 2.90 26.50
p-value 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.09 0.00
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010. Notes: Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01. Instruments: Effect of innovation on the expansion of the range of products, effect of innovation on the quality of products, and R&D effort.
41
Table 5 : Estimations by OLS distinguishing between new-to-the-firm and new-to-the-market products
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Constant
2.43 -1.20 12.15*** 13.11*** -2.90**
(1.35) (1.27) (0.85) (0.90) (0.94)
Process innovation only -7.09*** -9.68*** -5.37*** -2.11 -6.15***
(1.93) (1.77) (1.26) (1.21) (0.75)
Sales growth due to new-to-the-firm products 0.81*** 0.83*** 0.87*** 0.84*** 0.84***
(0.03) (0.02) (0.02) (0.02) (0.01)
Sales growth due to new-to-the-market products 0.82*** 0.85*** 0.83*** 0.84*** 0.82***
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) (0.01)
Number of firms 4481 5218 5088 4829 19628
R2 0.44 0.43 0.31 0.29 0.36
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010. Notes: Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01. The triannual totals are lower with respect to previous estimations. Also, the estimation is restricted, excluding cases from the last percentile.
42
Table 6: Estimations by size of firm
OLS Fewer than 200 employees Equal to or more than 200 employees
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total 2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Constant 1.25 1.08 13.01*** 15.13*** -2.78* 3.63 -3.6 9.85*** 14.47*** -0.54 (2.61) (2.17) (1.64) (1.59) (1.38) (2.13) (1.93) (1.75) (1.86) (1.52)
Process innovation only -10.13*** -11.23*** -4.83*** -1.83 -6.96*** -3.47 -11.30* -12.51*** -5.64 -7.32*** (2.29) (1.92) (1.35) (1.30) (1.00) (3.60) (4.59) (3.51) (3.13) (1.94)
Sales growth due to new products 0.73*** 0.75*** 0.82*** 0.83*** 0.78*** 0.79*** 0.88*** 0.83*** 0.78*** 0.82*** (0.03) (0.02) (0.02) (0.01) (0.01) (0.03) (0.03) (0.04) (0.05) (0.02)
No. of firms 3466 4234 4238 4016 15963 1052 1025 894 857 3821 R2 0.45 0.43 0.31 0.29 0.36 0.4291 0.4114 0.3092 0.2983 0.344
Instrumental Variables Fewer than 200 employees Equal to or more than 200 employees
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total 2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Constant -5.79** -2.80 10.28*** 9.72*** -7.71*** -1.77 -8.56 2.69 15.85*** -2.48 (2.05) (1.93) (1.55) (1.41) (1.07) (4.31) (4.94) (4.92) (4.51) (2.56)
Process innovation only -6.10* -6.63** -1.66 0.40 -3.54*** 2.36 -6.54 -6.08 -6.92 -5.38* (2.68) (2.41) (1.79) (1.70) (1.05) (5.35) (5.61) (5.20) (4.99) (2.54)
Sales growth due to new products 0.85*** 0.89*** 0.95*** 0.92*** 0.90*** 0.98*** 1.03*** 1.09*** 0.73*** 0.89*** (0.05) (0.05) (0.05) (0.05) (0.02) (0.12) (0.14) (0.17) (0.15) (0.07)
No. of firms 3466 4234 4238 4016 15963 1052 1025 894 857 3822 R2 0.38 0.41 0.44 0.48 0.44 0.42 0.45 0.44 0.46 0.47 R2 first stage 0.19 0.19 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.16 0.17 0.14 0.16 0.14 Sargan test 2.59 0.12 0.12 2.2 3.3 0.15 0.43 1.76 0.47 0.82 p-value 0.27 0.93 0.94 0.33 0.18 0.92 0.80 0.41 0.82 0.18 Endogeneity test 7.10 9.90 7.40 4.30 26.8 3.81 1.71 1.32 0.60 1.32 p-value 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.05 0.19 0.25 0.44 0.25
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010. Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01.
43
Table 7: Estimations for all triennia
OLS Pooled IV FE2SLS RE2SLS
Constant -1.98* -5.44*** -4.47**
(0.91) (1.01) (1.38)
Process innovation only -7.05*** -3.73*** -6.11* -4.29***
(0.89) (0.99) (2.87) (1.17)
Sales growth due to new products 0.79*** 0.90*** 0.81*** 0.88***
(0.01) (0.02) (0.10) (0.03)
Years 2005-2008 5.27*** 5.07*** 5.23*** 4.98***
(0.67) (0.74) (0.66) (0.65)
Years 2006-2009 17.29*** 17.78*** 18.08*** 17.94***
(0.73) (0.76) (1.00) (0.68
Years 2007-2010 17.34*** 17.82*** 18.18*** 18.00***
(0.78) (0.77) (1.06) (0.69)
No. of firms 19784 19785 19390 19785
R2 0.36 0.44 0.31 0.44
Sargan test 2.99 3.04 3.12
p-value 0.22 0.22 0.21
Hausman test (FE2SLS vs. RE2SLS ) 39.01 (0.049)
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010. Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01.
44
Table 8
Contribution of innovation to employment growth
2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Employment growth 4.0 1.7 -7.7 -11.8 -3.6
Contributions:
Productivity trend in production of old products -7.5 -2.0 12.2 12.9 5.0
Gross effect of process innovation in the production of old products -0.6 -1.1 -0.4 -0.1 -0.6
Output growth of old products contribution 3.9 1.1 -8.3 -9.6 -3.5
Net contribution of product innovators 8.1 3.6 -11.2 -15.0 -4.5
Contribution of old products -17.6 -22.8 -31.0 -33.6 -26.6
Contribution of new products 25.6 26.4 19.8 18.6 22.1
Contribution of new-to-the-firm products 15.1 15.7 11.8 11.3 13.1
Contribution of new-to-the-market products 10.6 10.7 8.1 7.2 8.9
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010
45
Table 9: Contribution of innovation to employment growth, by size of firm.
Firms with more than 200 employees 2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Employment growth 7.8 5.8 -1.2 -4.6 2.2
Contributions:
Productivity trend in production of old products -7.8 -6.2 7.1 16.3 4.5
Gross effect of process innovation in the production of old products 0.4 -1.0 -0.8 -0.9 -0.8
Output growth of old products contribution 3.5 3.4 -2.3 -3.6 0.1
Net contribution of product innovators 11.7 9.6 -5.1 -16.4 -1.6
Contribution of old products -15.2 -18.0 -28.5 -32.8 -23.5
Contribution of new products 26.9 27.6 23.3 16.4 22.0
Contribution of new-to-the-firm products 16.1 16.9 14.1 9.6 13.1
Contribution of new-to-the-market products 10.8 10.7 9.2 6.9 8.9
Firms with fewer than 200 employees 2004-2007 2005-2008 2006-2009 2007-2010 Total
Employment growth 2.8 0.7 -9.1 -13.4 -5.1
Contributions:
Productivity trend in production of old products -6.5 -0.8 12.6 12.6 5.2
Gross effect of process innovation in the production of old products -1.0 -1.1 -0.3 0.1 -0.6
Output growth of old products contribution 4.1 0.6 -9.6 -10.9 -4.4
Net contribution of product innovators 6.2 2.0 -11.8 -15.1 -5.3
Contribution of old products -18.3 -23.9 -31.5 -33.7 -27.3
Contribution of new products 24.5 25.9 19.7 18.6 22.0
Contribution of new-to-the-firm products 14.3 15.4 11.7 11.5 13.1
Contribution of new-to-the-market products 10.1 10.6 8.1 7.1 8.9
Source: own calculations, from the PITEC data base 2004-2010.