Allocation of human capital and innovation at the frontier: Firm-level evidence on Germany and the Netherlands

摘要: This paper examines how productivity eects of human capital and innovation vary at dierent points the conditional distribution. Our analysis draws upon two large unbalanced panels 6,634 enterprises in Germany 14,586 Netherlands over period 2000-2008, considering 5 manufacturing services industries that dier level technological intensity. Industries are characterized by a larger average proportion high-skilled employees indus- tries more unequal distribution Except for low-technology manufacturing, performance is higher all innova- tion distributions dispersed Netherlands. In both countries, we observe non-linearities investing product majority tries. Frontier …rms enjoy highest returns to whereas most negative process observed best-performing industries. …nd increase with proximity frontier low Strikingly, complementarity eect between knowledge-intensive services, which pronounced Suggestive evidence latter winner-takes-all interpretation this …nding.