Finance Seminar with Yufeng Wu, Ohio State University
On Friday, November 14, 2025, Yufeng Wu, will be giving a seminar on the paper: Steering Labor Mobility Through Innovation
Practical information
2000 Frederiksberg
Room: SPs03
Paper and Abstract
The Department of Finance is proud to announce the upcoming seminar with Yufeng Wu, Ohio State University.
Yufeng Wu will present: Steering Labor Mobility Through Innovation
Abstract:
This paper argues that firms strategically use investment scope to influence employees’ human capital accumulation and mobility. We develop a dynamic model in which workers conduct R&D projects and accumulate both general and firm-specific knowledge. Firms choose the scope of innovation, shaping the type of knowledge inventors gain. General (specific) innovation enhances (lowers) knowledge redeployability but increases (lowers) retention costs. Using detailed data on innovation and inventor mobility, we estimate the model and match inventor life-cycle knowledge accumulation patterns. Our results suggest that a significant fraction of observed innovation specificity in U.S. firms reflects strategic efforts to manage labor mobility, boosting firm value but reducing inventor surplus.
