Wages in High-Tech Start-Ups – Do Academic Spin-Offs Pay a Wage Premium?

48 Pages Posted: 22 Jun 2015

See all articles by Matthias Dorner

Matthias Dorner

Institute for Employment Research (IAB); Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Helmut Fryges

Technopolis Group; University of Tasmania - Australian Innovation Research Centre; Center for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Kathrin Schopen

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 1, 2015

Abstract

Due to their origin from universities, academic spin‐offs operate at the forefront of the technological development. Therefore, spin‐offs exhibit a skill‐biased labour demand, i.e. spin‐offs have a high demand for employees with cutting edge knowledge and technical skills. In order to accommodate this demand, spin‐offs may have to pay a relative wage premium compared to other high‐tech start‐ups. However, neither a comprehensive theoretical assessment nor the empirical literature on wages in start‐ups unambiguously predicts the existence and the direction of wage differentials between spin‐offs and non‐spin‐offs. This paper addresses this research gap and examines empirically whether or not spin‐offs pay their employees a wage premium. Using a unique linked employer‐employee data set of German high‐tech start‐ups, we estimate Mincer‐type wage regressions applying the Hausman‐Taylor panel estimator. Our results show that spin‐offs do not pay a wage premium in general. However, a notable exception from this general result is that spin‐offs that commercialise new scientific results or methods provide higher wages to employees with linkages to the university sector – either as university graduates or as student workers.

Keywords: wages, high‐tech start‐ups, academic spin‐offs, linked employer‐employee data

JEL Classification: J31, L26, M13, O34

Suggested Citation

Dorner, Matthias and Fryges, Helmut and Schopen, Kathrin, Wages in High-Tech Start-Ups – Do Academic Spin-Offs Pay a Wage Premium? (June 1, 2015). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 15-038, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2621418 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2621418

Matthias Dorner

Institute for Employment Research (IAB) ( email )

Regensburger Str. 104
Nuremberg, 90478
Germany

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, Bayern 80539
Germany

Helmut Fryges

Technopolis Group ( email )

Grosse Seestraße 26
Frankfurt am Main, 60384
Germany

University of Tasmania - Australian Innovation Research Centre ( email )

1 College Road
Sandy Bay TAS, Tasmania 7005
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.utas.edu.au/airc

Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Kathrin Schopen (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

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