Innovative Work Practices, Information Technologies, and Working Conditions : Evidence for France.

We investigate the impact of new work practices and information and communication technologies (ICT) on working conditions in France. We use a unique French dataset providing information on individual workers for the year 1998. New work practices include the use of quality norms, job rotation, collective discussions on work organization, and work time flexibility. Working conditions are captured by occupational injuries as well as indicators of mental strain. We find that individuals working under the new practices face greater mental strain than individuals who do not. They also face a higher probability of work injuries, at least for benign ones. In contrast, our results suggest that ICT contribute to make the workplace more cooperative and to reduce occupational risks and injuries.New work practices; technology; working conditions; occupational injuries; Working Conditions;

The impact of technological and organizatioanl changes on labor flows. Evidence on French establishments

This paper investigates the effect of organizational and technological changes on job stability of different occupations in France. We first develop a basic matching model with endogenous job destsruction. It provides a structure to the empirical analysis, where we extensively exploit a unique data set on a representative sample of French establishments. The adoption of information technologies is positively correlated to labor flows of blue collar workers while most of the new workplace organizational practices positively influence the managers’ turnover.

Competition, R&D and the cost of innovation

This paper proposes a model in the spirit of Aghion and al. (2005) that relates the magnitude of the impact of competition on R&D to the cost of innovation. The effect of competition on R&D is an inverted U-shape. However, the shape is flatter and competition policy is therefore less relevant for innovation when innovations are relatively costly. Intuitively, if innovations are costly for a firm, competitive shocks have to be significant to alter its innovation decisions. Empirical investigations using a unique panel dataset from the Banque de France show that an inverted U-shaped relationship can be clearly evidenced for the largest firms, but the curve becomes flatter when the relative cost of R&D increases. For large costs, the relationship even vanishes.competition ; R&D ; innovation

Credit constraints and the cyclicality of R&D investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1993-2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms' R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) the share of R&D investment over total investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes less countercyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is magnified for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility ; (iii) in more credit constrained firms, R&D investment share plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns; (iv) average R&D investment and productivity growth are more negatively correlated with sales volatility in more credit constrained firms.business cycles ; R&D ; credit constraints ; volatility

Do French Managers Know their Companies? Lessons from the REPONSE Survey

This article explores the potential pitfalls of using surveys on organisational practices, firms technological choices, and workplace relations. Using a generic methodology, one can estimate the degree of truthfulness or consistency of responding executives working in different local units of a single enterprise. Applied to the French REPONSE survey in regard to the enterprises general characteristics, the methodology suggests that (1) executives usually give rather consistent answers to a question handled separately from the others, and (2) that their answers are all the more specific as the questions are simple and fall within the respondents sphere of competency. However, responses to questions on social relations and trade-union representation in the firm are less reliable. Allowing for executives errors, we are led to substantially revise both the level and the rate of change of a number of variables, particularly the weights of different employees unions in firms.Organizational Change, Workplace Relations, Survey Methods

Competition, R&D and the cost of innovation

This paper proposes a model in the spirit of Aghion and al. (2005) that relates the magnitude of the impact of competition on R&D to the cost of innovation. The effect of competition on R&D is an inverted U-shape. However, the shape is flatter and competition policy is therefore less relevant for innovation when innovations are relatively costly. Intuitively, if innovations are costly for a firm, competitive shocks have to be significant to alter its innovation decisions. Empirical investigations using a unique panel dataset from the Banque de France show that an inverted U-shaped relationship can be clearly evidenced for the largest firms, but the curve becomes flatter when the relative cost of R&D increases. For large costs, the relationship even vanishes.Ce papier propose un modèle dans l'esprit d'Aghion et al. (1995). Il relie la sensibilité de la R&D à la concurrence, au coût des innovations. Plus les innovations sont coûteuses, plus les chocs concurrentiels doivent être importants pour modifier le comportement des entreprises. L'exploitation empirique de données d'un vaste panel d'entreprises de la Banque de France conforte cet argument. Elle exhibe une relation en U-inversé entre concurrence et innovation pour les grandes entreprises mais cette relation est plus plate lorsque le coût d'innover relativement à la taille de l'entreprise augmente

Travail, un monde en mutation

Depuis l’après-guerre, les chercheurs du CNRS et d’ailleurs ont pu observer trois grandes mutations dans le monde du travail : la conception tayloriste, l’industrialisation et la tertiarisation du travail avec une industrialisation qui pénètre le tertiaire. Les explications de Philippe Askenazy

Advertising and R&D: Theory and evidence from France

This paper exploits a unique panel of 59,000 French firms over 1990-2004 to investigate the interactions between R&D, advertising and the competitive environment.The empirical findings confirm the predictions of a dynamic model that complements results known in static frameworks. First, more competition pushes Neck and Neck firms to advertise more to attract a larger share of consumers on their products or services. Second, for a given competitive environment, quality leaders spend more in advertising in order to extract maximal rents; thus, lower costs of ads may favor R&D

Prévenir des gâchis de compétences et qualifications en France

Augmenter les qualifications des travailleurs, assurer une meilleure adéquation entre offre et demande de compétences et qualifications font dans leur principe consensus. Ils sont amplement mis en œuvre dans les différents pays de l’OCDE, dont la France, qui ont fait des efforts importants notamment pour la formation initiale. Cette communication suggère que ces efforts sont insuffisamment accompagnés de politiques prévenant des gâchis de compétences et de qualifications : prospective efficace des métiers, gestion des cycles de demande, préservation de la santé des travailleurs.Improving workers qualifications and the adequacy between supply and offering of skills and qualifications are largely accepted and enforced in the OECD countries. They develop significiant efforts, especially in educational policies, as in France. This article suggests that these efforts are not sufficiently supported by policies avoiding to spoil skills and qualifications: job prospective, smoothing the impact of business cycles on job demand, occupational health and safety promotion

Credit Constraints and the Cyclicality of R&D Investment: Evidence from France

We use a French firm-level data set containing 13,000 firms over the period 1994–2004 to analyze the relationship between credit constraints and firms’ R&D behavior over the business cycle. Our main results can be summarized as follows: (i) R&D investment is countercyclical without credit constraints, but it becomes procyclical as firms face tighter credit constraints; (ii) this result is only observed for firms in sectors that depend more heavily upon external finance, or that are characterized by a low degree of asset tangibility; (iii) in more credit-constrained firms, R&D investment plummets during recessions but does not increase proportionally during upturns.Economic