A Year Older, A Year Wiser (and Farther from Frontier): Invention Rents and Human Capital Depreciation / Philippe Aghion, Ufuk Akcigit, Ari Hyytinen, Otto Toivanen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aghion, Philippe.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Akcigit, Ufuk.

Hyytinen, Ari.

Toivanen, Otto.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w29863.

NBER working paper series no. w29863

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Year Older, A Year Wiser

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2022.

Summary:

We look at how the arrival of an invention affects wage returns and probability of moving out of employment for white- and blue-collar coworkers of the inventor. First results suggest that older workers are hurt by the arrival of an invention. This negative effect disappears when we control for education and, in particular, for time that since obtaining the last formal degree, i.e., distance to human capital frontier. If anything, this effect is slightly higher for non-STEM than STEM-educated co-workers. This result suggests that retraining programs could be helpful in making the process of creative destruction and economic growth more inclusive.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2022.