| Understanding the causes and consequences of technological change is one of the main challenges for modern economics. One of the major difficulties in approaching this topic is the systematic lack of direct measures of technology linked to real economic variables. This dissertation presents three papers in which we attempt to bridge this gap. Using various newly constructed datasets that link direct measures of innovation with concrete economic indicators, we address three central questions on the origins and effects of technological progress. First, we ask how economic geography determines type and intensity of innovation activities. Second, we ask whether scientific discoveries are an important driver of firm dynamics and resource reallocation. Third, we investigate the effect of labor market regulation on the choice between different technologies, and how this nexus can contribute to explain the evolution of economic inequalities. |
