The employer's perspective on retirement

In this chapter we discuss the literature with respect to the role of employers in retirement processes of older workers and provide suggestions for future research. In the first part of this chapter we will review existing theoretical insights regarding the employers’ actions and attitudes toward older workers and retirement. In the next section we will discuss empirical findings with regard to age related stereotypes in the workplace and age norms with respect to retirement and present some results form an international comparative employer study. We conclude with a section on the management of retirement processes, focussing on the exit and hiring of older workers.

Crossing the hurdle: the determinants of individual scientific performance

An original cross sectional dataset referring to a medium sized Italian university is implemented in order to analyze the determinants of scientific research production at individual level. The dataset includes 942 permanent researchers of various scientific sectors for a three year time span (2008 - 2010). Three different indicators - based on the number of publications or citations - are considered as response variables. The corresponding distributions are highly skewed and display an excess of zero - valued observations. In this setting, the goodness of fit of several Poisson mixture regression models are explored by assuming an extensive set of explanatory variables. As to the personal observable characteristics of the researchers, the results emphasize the age effect and the gender productivity gap, as previously documented by existing studies. Analogously, the analysis confirm that productivity is strongly affected by the publication and citation practices adopted in different scientific disciplines. The empirical evidence on the connection between teaching and research activities suggests that no univocal substitution or complementarity thesis can be claimed: a major teaching load does not affect the odds to be a non-active researcher and does not significantly reduce the number of publications for active researchers. In addition, new evidence emerges on the effect of researchers administrative tasks, which seem to be negatively related with researcher's productivity, and on the composition of departments. Researchers' productivity is apparently enhanced by operating in department filled with more administrative and technical staff, and it is not significantly affected by the composition of the department in terms of senior or junior researchers.Comment: Revised version accepted for publication by Scientometric

The creative response in economic development: the case of information processing technologies in US manufacturing, 1870-1930

This paper presents a theoretical framework along "Classical" lines in which Schumpeter's concept of "Creative Response" is linked to a theory of induced innovation and the concept of technological regimes. We devote particular attention to the role of indivisibilities between factors of production. On the basis of this framework, we study the adoption of early information technologies, such as typewriters, calculators or Hollerith machines in US manufacturing in the period between 1870 and 1930. We show how the presence of a distinct bias in technical change in US manufacturing led to the opening of a window of opportunity for early information technologies, and how the presence of this bias influenced the technological search and adoption process of firms and how this found its final reflection in the rules and heuristics of the new regimemulation is found.Technological regimes; systemic innovation; adoption of technologies; path dependence; information technology 1870-1930

The Determinants of Pharmaceutical R&D Expenditures: Evidence from Japan

During the past 20 years, the world pharmaceutical industry has experienced a dramatic increase in R&D intensity. We apply and extend a model developed by Grabowski and Vernon (2000) with a pooled data sample of the 15 publicly listed Japanese drug firms for the period 1987 to 1998. As in the reference paper, we find expected returns to be an important determinant of R&D spending in the Japanese drug industry, albeit considerably smaller than in the U.S., which is particularly obvious in the case of returns from newly introduced drugs. However, our results are sensitive to econometric model specification, in particular to controlling for serial correlation and to a dynamic specification of the baseline model. Likewise, estimates on financial constraints are sensitive to model specification, indicating that Japanese drug firms face small or no financial constraints. Our results are consistent with the general literature on R&D investment behaviour, yet raise some methodological questions with regard to the original study.R&D, investment, panel data estimation, pharmaceuticals, Japan

Age and productivity capacity: Descriptions, causes and policy options

This article reviews how work performance differs over the life cycle by describing and discussing findings from various approaches. This includes managers evaluations, the quantity and quality of goods and services produced by workers of different ages, the performance of age-mixed teams, to what extent the age distribution of employees depends on the type of work and how the age distribution changes due to technological change and business cycle shocks, analyses of employer-employee datasets, descriptions of age-earnings profiles in settings where they could reflect performance and the output of researchers and artists over the life cycle. The causes of productivity variation by age are also considered, with a particular focus on experience and cognitive abilities. The findings suggest that productivity tend to increase during the initial years in the labour market before it stabilizes and often declines towards the end of the working life. Productivity reductions at older ages are strongest in job tasks where problem solving, learning and speed are important, while for work tasks where experience and verbal abilities matter more, there is less or no reduction in productivity among elderly workers. Trends in the age-productivity relation are discussed in relation to changing work tasks and job requirements, combined with changes in the requirement of skills (decline in demand for physical strength, increase in the need to learn new skills). Policies that could be considered to raise productivity among senior workers include on-the-job training, education and promotion of health. However, a later retirement could also raise incentives to update ones own skills and work harder at older ages (which may be achieved through pension reforms and wage liberalisation). Moreover, a better agemix in the workplace, allowing older and younger individuals to benefit from their comparative advantages, is likely to improve overall productivity in ageing nations

RIO Country Report 2017: Austria

The R&I Observatory country report 2017 provides a brief analysis of the R&I system covering the economic context, main actors, funding trends & human resources, policies to address R&I challenges, and R&I in national and regional smart specialisation strategies. Data is from Eurostat, unless otherwise referenced and is correct as at January 2018. Data used from other international sources is also correct to that date. The report provides a state-of-play and analysis of the national level R&I system and its challenges, to support the European Semester.JRC.B.7-Knowledge for Finance, Innovation and Growt

The Role of Multinational Corporations in Metropolitan Innovation Systems – Empirical Evidence from Europe and South-East Asia

Using firm-level survey data from Barcelona, Stockholm, Vienna in Europe and Singapore, Penang (Malaysia) and Bangkok in South-East Asia the paper enquires into the different R&D and innovation behaviour of multinational and local companies in these Metropolitan Regions. Scrutinizing a set of input, throughput and output indicators as well as information on cooperation characteristics, we try to evaluate a) if the spatial pattern of more (intense) innovation activity in Europe when compared to South-East Asia is still valid; and b) if there are reasons to believe that R&D units of multinational corporations in Europe are mainly concerned with the enhancement of the knowledge base and the development of future competitiveness by tapping into localized knowledge and using the particular host regions’ innovation systems, while, on the other hand, MNCs in South-East Asia use R&D to support existing production facilities in order to exploit an existing competitive advantage. We are able to show that there is still a major gap in the innovation performance between South-East Asia and Europe and that there are indeed indications that R&D units in Europe are more orientated towards the augmentation of the company’s knowledge base.

Retaining Older Workers: Fields Of Action – Constituting A Comprehensive Age Management Model

The need to improve labor market participation of older people has gained heightened attention in recent years, especially in view of the significant demographic changes the European Union will undergo due to population aging. Besides the macroeconomic level, the implications of this trend are very present on the company level, especially through managing the aging workforce. Companies are thus introducing new approaches, policies and instruments which are supposed to foster higher employment rates of elderly through implementing active aging concept into business and HRM practice. The aim of this paper is to highlight the development of active aging initiatives within Slovenian companies where the practice of age management is still in its early stage. However, we expect that due to the aging population and the shortages on the labor market one can expect that those practices will receive more and more attention in the future. Because of age discrimination, and a longstanding culture of early exit from employment, many organizations in Slovenia, both the workplace and the community, have no experience in positively targeting older workers. Therefore, those looking to respond to workforce aging usually start from a low or non-existent base. Moreover, Slovenian employers are still often reluctant to employ older workers, either because of age stereotypes or because of some very reasonable dilemmas concerning personnel economics. With the aim to help beginners, we have developed a conceptual model, thus providing a useful base for further development of company-specific age management model that suits to the company needs the most. A key message of this paper is that when it comes to good practice, even very small changes can have a positive impact. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the future development of active aging practice, with an emphasize on new HRM approaches, policies and instruments which seem to be of extreme importance when striving to prolong working life