Alfred Kleinknecht

University of Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology

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About

Alfred Kleinknecht is a prominent economist whose research sits at the intersection of innovation economics, labor markets, and technological change. His work has made significant contributions to understanding how different innovation regimes shape the relationship between automation, employment, and job quality in European economies. Kleinknecht's most influential recent research examines the nuanced effects of robot adoption on labor markets across six European countries, garnering 17 citations since 2022. A central insight of this work is that the impact of automation on flexible and temporary employment cannot be understood without accounting for the type of innovation model dominant in a given industry. His concept of "knowledge cumulativeness" as a differentiating factor in innovation regimes has proven particularly valuable, demonstrating that in high-knowledge-cumulative industries, robot adoption actually reduces reliance on flexible contracts — a counterintuitive finding with important policy implications. Building on this foundation, his 2020 study further explored the conditions under which robots enhance or diminish job quality, reinforcing that technological determinism oversimplifies labor market dynamics. Together, these contributions offer researchers and policymakers a more sophisticated framework for evaluating automation's role in shaping the future of work.