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Employee age structure and firm innovation

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  • Ilmakunnas, Pekka

Abstract

The age-innovation relationship is studied at the firm level, using ten waves of Finnish innovation surveys linked to register data on firms and their employees. A negative age-innovation relationship exists for a wide range of average employee ages. This is robust to using employee age group shares instead of average age, using fixed effects and continuous treatment effects estimation, and using six different measures of innovative behavior. Employee age diversity is, however, not related to innovativeness.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilmakunnas, Pekka, 2025. "Employee age structure and firm innovation," MPRA Paper 123630, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123630
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2025. "Employee age structure and firm innovation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 45(4), pages 1840-1849.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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