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Hilton Atlanta, Grand Ballroom A
Hosted By:
American Finance Association
labor market during the late 1990s tech bubble. The boom led to a sharp increase in the share of skilled entrants in the tech sector, which offers relative higher wages at the time. When the boom ends, however, the wage premium reverses and these skilled workers end up with a 5.5% wage discount ten years out, relative to similar peers who started in a non-tech sector. Other moments of the wage distribution of the boom, pre-boom, and post-boom cohorts are inconsistent with
explanations based on a selection effect or a cycle effect. Instead, we provide suggestive evidence
that workers allocated to the booming tech sector accumulate human capital early in their career that rapidly becomes obsolete.
R&D, Patents, and the Future of Innovation
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM
- Chair: Lauren Cohen, Harvard Business School
Property Rights and Debt Financing
Abstract
I examine how increasing firms' ownership of employee patents affects debt financing. I exploit a Court of Appeals Federal Circuit ruling that shifted property rights to employee patents from employees to firms, and find that firms' debt financing increases by 18%. The increase is attributable to firms' more efficient and productive use of patents, which improves the pledgeability of patents as collateral. I further show that a reduction in holdup problems increases synergistic value of patents through enhanced asset complementarity, inventor collaboration, and innovation productivity.The Long-Term Consequences of the Tech Bubble on Skilled Workers' Earnings
Abstract
We use French matched employer-employee data to track skilled individuals entering thelabor market during the late 1990s tech bubble. The boom led to a sharp increase in the share of skilled entrants in the tech sector, which offers relative higher wages at the time. When the boom ends, however, the wage premium reverses and these skilled workers end up with a 5.5% wage discount ten years out, relative to similar peers who started in a non-tech sector. Other moments of the wage distribution of the boom, pre-boom, and post-boom cohorts are inconsistent with
explanations based on a selection effect or a cycle effect. Instead, we provide suggestive evidence
that workers allocated to the booming tech sector accumulate human capital early in their career that rapidly becomes obsolete.
Discussant(s)
Tania Babina
,
Columbia University
William Mann
,
University of California-Los Angeles
Stefan Lewellen
,
Pennsylvania State University
Umit G. Gurun
,
University of Texas-Dallas
JEL Classifications
- G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance