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

This article examines how productivity effects of human capital and innovation vary at different points of the conditional productivity distribution. Our analysis draws upon two large unbalanced panels of 6634 enterprises in Germany and 14,841 enterprises in the Netherlands over the period 2000-2008, considering five manufacturing and services industries that differ in the level of technological intensity. Industries in the Netherlands are characterized by a larger average proportion of high-skilled employees and industries in Germany by a more unequal distribution of human capital intensity.... Mehr ...