This paper tests the opportunity-cost theory using a panel of Spanish firms during the period 1991-2010. Under this theory, productivity-enhancing activities, such as R&D investment, should increase during downturns because of the fall in their relative cost – in terms of forgone output. This...

Many studies have established that a small number of firms, known as fast-growth firms or Gazelles, create most of the new jobs. In spite of the importance of this topic from a policy-point of view, most of those studies are descriptive and limited to a comparison of the characteristics of the...

This paper investigates whether the existence of knowledge spillovers, differences in the capacity of firms to assimilate them and disparities in some human resource management practices are related with the decision to innovate of Spanish firms. In order to do this, we employ data from the...