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Local Labour Tasks And Patenting In Us Commuting Zones

Author

Listed:
  • Marialuisa Divella

    (Department of Political Sciences, Universita' degli Studi di Bari)

  • Alessia Lo Turco

    (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM))

  • Alessandro Sterlacchini

    (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM))

Abstract

In this paper we adopt a task approach to measure the local pool of capabilities which can more effectively spur innovation. By focusing on the core activities that workers undertake in their jobs, we build an abstract task intensity measure of occupations to proxy the ability in analysing and solving complex problems, as well as in coordinating and integrating people with different knowledge endowments, that should be especially relevant for the process of invention and innovation. We thus estimate the relationship between the local abstract intensity and the inventive performance, proxied by granted patents, of US Commuting Zones during the period 2000-2015. The evidence provided, robust to a wide array of sensitivity checks, points to the extent of workers’ engagement in abstract tasks across Commuting Zones as a crucial determinant of the local inventive activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Marialuisa Divella & Alessia Lo Turco & Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2023. "Local Labour Tasks And Patenting In Us Commuting Zones," Working Papers 476, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:476
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; labour tasks; local abstract intensity; patents; US Commuting Zones;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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