Is labour market flexibility harmful to innovation?
从熊彼特视角论证,旨在降低失业的劳动力市场灵活性改革虽短期有利,但会抑制产品与工艺创新,进而削弱经济供给侧的长期实力。
In a neoclassical framework one can argue that unemployment can be reduced by means of institutional changes that allow for a better working of the labour market and, notably, by achieving downward wage flexibility. I argue that although various policy recommendations about removing labour market rigidities are indeed advantageous in the short trun, they are detrimental from a Schumpeterian perspective, since they discourage product and process innovation. Reduced innovation efforts will in turn weaken the supply-side strength of an economy. The paper explores the implications of Schumpeter's notion of creative destruction and of Schmookler's hypothesis of demand-pulled innovations, borrowing from recent empirical innovation research.