New product sales are hard to predict. Our analysis of sales performance two years after market launch reveals that three groups of factors do not increase the accuracy of predicting new product sales: (1) A firm's general experience and experience with innovation; (2) High technological...

Mainstream economists argue that unemployment can be reduced by deregulation of labor markets, that is, by easier firing, reduction of minimum wages and social benefits, and so forth. Our panel data analysis shows that wage-cost saving flexibilization of labor markets has a negative impact on...

Technological progress in western economies has contributed to an immense rise in productivity, incomes and goods available over the last hundred years. Though not to the same extent as productivity and wages, population and employment have risen as well. Nevertheless, innovations are often...

Recent analyses of Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data suffer from methodological shortcomings. Using Finnish CIS data, we illustrate the potential consequences of these shortcomings and propose ways of dealing with them. We show how the neglect of lag structures between dependent and...

Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts tend to have higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innovative new products ("first on the market"). High functional flexibility in "insider--outsider" labor markets enhances a firm's new...

The neo-classical plea for flexibilizing European labour markets is strong and convincing within a static general equilibrium framework, but it is counter-productive for dynamic Schumpeterian efficiency. Taking the example of the US and the Netherlands, we argue that more flexible labour...

More 'flexible' labour relations significantly reduce labour productivity growth in sectors that tend towards a 'routinised' (other than a 'garage business') innovation regime. We argue that structural reforms that make firing easier will diminish the loyalty and commitment of workers, making...