Which skills contribute most to absorptive capacity, innovation and productivity performance? Evidence from the US and Western Europe

The role of innovation and human capital for the productivity of industries

“…A limitation of using tertiary education to proxy skills is that this corresponds to making the implicit assumption that education always succeeds in building human capital and that all skills matter to the same extent. No information is in fact provided about the different skills that may be important for innovation, despite increasing evidence showing that intermediate-skill workers and uncertified skills are also important for innovation and growth (Mason, O'Leary and Vecchi, 2012 [35]). Also the interdependence between highlevel skills and other skills is important (CEDEFOP, 2014 [36]).…”

Capital Heterogeneity and the Decline of the Labour Share

“…Similarly, as in Mason et al . (2019), we instrument innovative intangibles with the regulation of architectural and engineering professional services, and economic competencies with the regulation of legal and accounting professional services. Therefore we use as instruments regulations that implicitly affect the cost of these types of investments.…”

Developing Technician Skills for Innovative Industries: Theory, Evidence from the UK Life Sciences Industry, and Policy Implications

“…The category encompasses both 'skilled trades', such as laboratory technicians and maintenance engineers, and 'associate professional/technical' roles (examples of which include some varieties of manufacturing technician and production engineer) (Mason 2012). Most significantly for what follows, technicians are intimately involved in the installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of new technologies, thereby contributing to the 'absorptive capacity' of the firms that employ them (that is, to the ability of those firms to make effective use of innovative technologies) (Cohen and Levinthal 1990: 128-33;Jones and Grimshaw 2016: 112-15;Mason et al, 2019). Where the skills of the technician workforce are deficient-because of shortages of technicians, or because their skills are too specific, or because they lack theoretical knowledgefirms will suffer from poor absorptive capacity, lacking the capability to deploy new technologies to good effect.…”

“…Technicians are workers occupying roles that require 'intermediate' -that is, Levels 3-5 -skills in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics. The category encompasses both 'skilled trades', such as laboratory technicians and maintenance engineers, and 'associate professional/technical' roles (examples of which include some varieties of manufacturing technician and production engineer) (Mason 2012). Most significantly for what follows, technicians are intimately involved in the installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of new technologies, thereby contributing to the 'absorptive capacity' of the firms that employ them (i.e.…”

“…Where the skills of the technician workforce are deficient -because of shortages of technicians, or because their skills are too specific, or because they lack theoretical knowledge -firms will suffer from poor absorptive capacity, lacking the capability to deploy new technologies to good effect. This in turn lead to slower innovation, lower productivity growth and reduced competitiveness (Mason and Wagner 2005;Prais 1995).…”