Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Applied Economics Letters, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus)
A significant body of literature agrees on that the impact of innovation and R&D on productivity is positive since empirical research consistently demonstrate that investment in innovation enhances efficiency, improves product quality, and boosts competitiveness. However, the emergence of a ‘new economy’ driven by information and communication technologies (ICT) has reignited the longstanding debate regarding the potentially detrimental impact of innovation on employment. This study aims to investigate the effect of R&D expenditures on employment. Using panel data analyses, the effect of R&D on employment generation is examined within a highly representative sample. By using a unique panel dataset covering Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) non-financial firms, we show whether R&D expenditures have an employment generation effect over the 1984–2024. The findings demonstrate that R&D activities exert a positive effect on employment generation. Consequently, these results align with the existing literature on the employment-enhancing role of R&D expenditures. The contribution of this study to the current body of research lies in its examination of the R&D-employment relationship through a particularly representative sample of S&P 500 firms, which are among the top global spenders on R&D. We conclude that these results remain robust across various robustness checks.