IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dem/wpaper/wp-2009-005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do only new brooms sweep clean? A review on workforce age and innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Katharina Frosch

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

The relationship between age and creative performance has been found to follow a hump-shaped profile in the arts and sciences, and in great technological achievement. Accordingly, accelerating workforce aging raises concern about whether future capacity to innovate is endangered. This paper provides a review of existing studies exploring age effects on innovative performance, both at the individual and the macro levels. Empirical evidence confirms the hump-shaped relationship between workers’ ages and innovative performance, with the highest levels of performance seen between ages 30 and 50, depending on the domain. Industrial invention in knowledge-intensive fields, and great invention in general, seem to be a young man’s game. Yet in more experience-based fields, innovative performance peaks later, and remains stable until late in the career. Moreover, the quality of invention remains rather stable at older ages. However, individual-level evidence has to be interpreted with caution due to the presence of selectivity biases and unobserved heterogeneity. Studies at the levels of firms, regions, and countries address some of these issues. Results of these studies have indicated that young professionals drive knowledge absorption, innovation, and technological progress, whereas more experienced workers are more relevant in mature technological regimes. Apart from integrating the existing empirical evidence on different levels of aggregation, a strong focus is on methodological issues and conceptual challenges. This review therefore provides a sound basis for further studies on the impact of workforce aging on innovative performance. In addition, promising directions for future research are proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina Frosch, 2009. "Do only new brooms sweep clean? A review on workforce age and innovation," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-005, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2009-005
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2009-005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2009-005.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2009-005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin F. Jones, 2009. "The Burden of Knowledge and the "Death of the Renaissance Man": Is Innovation Getting Harder?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 283-317.
    2. Werner Bönte & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2007. "Demography and Innovative Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2007-084, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    3. Benoit Dostie, 2011. "Wages, Productivity and Aging," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 139-158, June.
    4. Stephan Brunow & Georg Hirte, 2006. "Age structure and regional economic growth," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 26(1), pages 3-23, March.
    5. Paola Giuri & Myriam Mariani, 2007. "Inventors and the Geographical Breadth of Knowledge Spillovers," LEM Papers Series 2007/26, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    6. David Card & Thomas Lemieux, 2001. "Can Falling Supply Explain the Rising Return to College for Younger Men? A Cohort-Based Analysis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 705-746.
    7. Bertschek Irene & Meyer Jenny, 2009. "Do Older Workers Lower IT-Enabled Productivity?: Firm-Level Evidence from Germany," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(2-3), pages 327-342, April.
    8. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Mika Maliranta & Jari Vainiomäki, 2004. "The Roles of Employer and Employee Characteristics for Plant Productivity," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 249-276, May.
    9. Charles I. Jones, 2002. "Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 220-239, March.
    10. Julia I. Lane & John C. Haltiwanger & James Spletzer, 1999. "Productivity Differences across Employers: The Roles of Employer Size, Age, and Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 94-98, May.
    11. Patrick Aubert & Bruno Crépon, 2003. "La productivité des salariés âgés : une tentative d'estimation," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 368(1), pages 95-119.
    12. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    13. Ilmakunnas, Pekka & Maliranta, Mika, 2007. "Aging, Labor Turnover and Firm Performance," Discussion Papers 1092, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    14. Schneider, Lutz, 2007. "Alterung und technologisches Innovationspotential : Eine Linked-Employer-Employee-Analyse," IWH Discussion Papers 2/2007, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    15. Mariani, Myriam & Romanelli, Marzia, 2007. ""Stacking" and "picking" inventions: The patenting behavior of European inventors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1128-1142, October.
    16. Schneider, Lutz, 2006. "Sind ältere Beschäftigte weniger produktiv? Eine empirische Analyse anhand des LIAB," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2006, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    17. Schettino, Francesco & Sterlacchini, Alessandro & Venturini, Francesco, 2013. "Inventive productivity and patent quality: Evidence from Italian inventors," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1043-1056.
    18. Harhoff, Dietmar & Hoisl, Karin, 2007. "Institutionalized incentives for ingenuity--Patent value and the German Employees' Inventions Act," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1143-1162, October.
    19. James Feyrer, 2007. "Demographics and Productivity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 100-109, February.
    20. Alexia Prskawetz & Bernhard Mahlberg & Vegard Skirbekk, 2007. "Firm Productivity, Work-force Age and Educational Structure in Austrian Industries in 2001," Chapters, in: Robert L. Clark & Naohiro Ogawa & Andrew Mason (ed.), Population Aging, Intergenerational Transfers and the Macroeconomy, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. T. Fent & B. Mahlberg & A. Prskawetz, 2008. "Demographic Change and Economic Growth," Springer Books, in: Florian Kohlbacher & Cornelius Herstatt (ed.), The Silver Market Phenomenon, chapter 1, pages 3-16, Springer.
    22. Benjamin F. Jones, 2010. "Age and Great Invention," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(1), pages 1-14, February.
    23. Henseke, Golo & Tivig, Thusnelda, 2007. "Demographic change and industry-specific innovation patterns in Germany," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 72, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    24. Hellerstein, Judith K & Neumark, David & Troske, Kenneth R, 1999. "Wages, Productivity, and Worker Characteristics: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions and Wage Equations," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(3), pages 409-446, July.
    25. Brunow, Stephan & Hirte, Georg, 2005. "Age Structure and Regional Income Growth," Discussion Papers 1/2005, Technische Universität Dresden, "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Institute of Transport and Economics.
    26. Wolfgang Lutz & Anne Goujon & Samir K.C. & Warren Sanderson, 2007. "Reconstruction of population by age, sex and level of educational attainment of 120 countries for 1970-2000," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 5(1), pages 193-235.
    27. Bruno Crépon & Nicolas Deniau & Sébastien Pérez-Duarte, 2003. "Wages, Productivity and Worker Characteristics : A French Perspective," Working Papers 2003-04, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    28. Meyer, Jenny, 2007. "Older Workers and the Adoption of New Technologies," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    29. Torbjorn Hacgeland & Tor Jakob Klette, 1999. "Do Higher Wages Reflect Higher Productivity? Education, Gender and Experience Premiums in a Matched Plant-Worker Data Set," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: The Creation and Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data, pages 231-259, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    30. Giuri, Paola & Mariani, Myriam, 2007. "Inventors and invention processes in Europe: Results from the PatVal-EU survey," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1105-1106, October.
    31. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1994. "Endogenous Innovation in the Theory of Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 23-44, Winter.
    32. Malmberg, Bo & Lindh, Thomas & Halvarsson, Max, 2005. "Productivity consequences of workforce ageing - Stagnation or a Horndal effect?," Arbetsrapport 2005:17, Institute for Futures Studies.
    33. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    34. Vegard Skirbekk, 2004. "Age and Individual Productivity: A Literature Survey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 133-154.
    35. Judith K. Hellerstein & David Neumark, 1995. "Are Earnings Profiles Steeper Than Productivity Profiles? Evidence from Israeli Firm-Level Data," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(1), pages 89-112.
    36. Hoisl, Karin, 2007. "Tracing mobile inventors--The causality between inventor mobility and inventor productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 619-636, June.
    37. Patrick Aubert & Eve Caroli & Muriel Roger, 2006. "New technologies, organisation and age: firm-level evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(509), pages 73-93, February.
    38. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10051 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Francesco Daveri & Mika Maliranta, 2007. "Age, seniority and labour costs: lessons from the Finnish IT revolution [‘Vertical integration and distance to frontier’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 22(49), pages 118-175.
    40. Florian Kohlbacher & Cornelius Herstatt (ed.), 2008. "The Silver Market Phenomenon," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-75331-5, December.
    41. Weinberg, Bruce A., 2004. "Experience and Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 1051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Müller, Christoph & Klinger, Christin & Curth, Susanne & Stracke, Stefan & Reinke, Susanne & Nerdinger, Friedemann W., 2013. "Personalarbeit im demografischen Wandel: Eine Befragung kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen der Gesundheitswirtschaft und der maritimen Wirtschaft in Norddeutschland," Rostocker Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologie 12, Universität Rostock, Seniorprofessur für Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologie.
    2. Helmut Fryges & Bettina Müller & Michaela Niefert, 2014. "Job machine, think tank, or both: what makes corporate spin-offs different?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 369-391, August.
    3. Claudio Loser & Jose Fajgenbaum & Harpaul Alberto Kohli & Ieva Vilkelyte, 2017. "How Aging Societies May Affect Global Growth Prospects," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 9(1-3), pages 38-74, January.
    4. Koski, Heli, 2015. "Commercial success of innovation: the roles of R&D cooperation and firm age," ETLA Working Papers 30, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bertschek Irene & Meyer Jenny, 2009. "Do Older Workers Lower IT-Enabled Productivity?: Firm-Level Evidence from Germany," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(2-3), pages 327-342, April.
    2. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Weiss, Matthias, 2016. "Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 30-42.
    3. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are Older Workers Harmful for Firm Productivity?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 273-292, September.
    4. James Ang & Jakob Madsen, 2015. "Imitation versus innovation in an aging society: international evidence since 1870," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 299-327, April.
    5. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are young and old workers harmful for firm productivity?," DULBEA Working Papers 09-02.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Andrea Kunnert & Oliver Fritz & Dieter Pennerstorfer & Gerhard Streicher & Birgit Aigner & Thomas Döring, 2010. "Teilbericht 3: Alterung und regionale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41128, April.
    7. Ana Cardoso & Paulo Guimarães & José Varejão, 2011. "Are Older Workers Worthy of Their Pay? An Empirical Investigation of Age-Productivity and Age-Wage Nexuses," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 95-111, June.
    8. Alessandra Cataldi & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2012. "Does it pay to be productive? The case of age groups," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(3), pages 264-283, June.
    9. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry, 2014. "What old stagers could teach us: Examining age complementarities in regional innovation systems," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. van Ours, Jan C. & Stoeldraijer, Lenny, 2010. "Age, wage and productivity," CEPR Discussion Papers 7713, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Mahlberg, Bernhard & Freund, Inga & Crespo Cuaresma, Jesús & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2013. "Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 5-15.
    12. Schneider, Lutz, 2011. "Zum Einfluss von Alter und Erfahrung auf Produktivitäts- und Lohnprofile - Befunde einer Linked-Employer-Employee-Analyse," VfS Annual Conference 2011 (Frankfurt, Main): The Order of the World Economy - Lessons from the Crisis 48728, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    13. Alessandra Cataldi & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2011. "Productivity-Wage Gaps Among Age Groups: Does the ICT Environment Matter?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 193-221, June.
    14. V. Vandenberghe & F. Waltenberg & M. Rigo, 2013. "Ageing and employability. Evidence from Belgian firm-level data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 111-136, August.
    15. Vegard Skirbekk, 2004. "Age and Individual Productivity: A Literature Survey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 133-154.
    16. van Ours, J.C. & Stoeldraijer, L., 2010. "Age, Wage and Productivity," Other publications TiSEM 1521c170-405f-41a4-9bd0-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Neil Foster-McGregor & Johannes Pöschl, 2016. "Productivity effects of knowledge transfers through labour mobility," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 169-184, December.
    18. Vandenberghe, V., 2013. "Are firms willing to employ a greying and feminizing workforce?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 30-46.
    19. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Hunkler, Christian & Weiss, Matthias, 2021. "Big data at work: Age and labor productivity in the service sector," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    20. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Mika Maliranta, 2016. "How does the age structure of worker flows affect firm performance?," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 43-62, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2009-005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Wilhelm (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.