Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Dughera, Stefano   
Author-Email:s.dughera@unito.it 
Author-Name: Quatraro,Francesco 
Author-Email:francesco.quatraro@unito.it 
Author-Name: Ricci,Andrea  
Author-Email: an.ricci@inapp.org 
Author-Name: Vittori,Claudia 
Author-Email:claudia.vittori@gmail.com
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Turin
Author-Workplace-Homepage: http://www.est.unito.it/
Title: For the rest of our lives: Flexibility and innovation in Italy.
Abstract: We study the effect of temporary workers on innovation both theoretically and empirically. First, we develop a model where a representative firm chooses between 
different types of projects (routine vs innovative) and different types of labor contracts (temporary vs permanent). In doing so, it considers the effect of these different 
strategies on the workers’ incentives to invest in firm-specific skills. Our key finding is that firms offering temporary contracts are less likely to invest in innovative 
projects, and that this is effect is stronger in industries characterized by a “garage-business” innovation regime. Second, we test our hypotheses using firm-level data on 
employment composition and patent filing. Consistently with our theoretical predictions, we find that temporary workers are detrimental to innovation, and that this effect 
is mitigated by the concentration of patent-filing at the industry-level.
Length: pages 40
Creation-Date: 2021-09
File-URL: https://www.est.unito.it/do/home.pl/Download?doc=/allegati/wp2021dip/wp_15_2021.pdf
File-Format: Application/PDF
Handle: RePEc:uto:labeco:202102