Productivity Of Italian Firms Research Articles

Regional disparities and industrial structure: territorial capital and productivity in Italian firms

ABSTRACT The role of territorial capital (TC) on the productivity of Italian firms is investigated by constructing indicators for eight dimensions of TC in a first attempt to capture a wide variety of regional resources. When imposing homogeneous TC effects on all firms, it is found that technological, social, institutional, financial and infrastructure capital drive productivity. However, only technological and artistic capital contribute to reduce regional disparities. Across industries, financial capital and infrastructure increase productivity in companies operating in a wide range of sectors. Industrial policies should consider sectoral heterogeneity and north–south differences to effectively boost productivity performance.

Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms

Both research and development (R&D) and information and communication technology (ICT) investment have been identified as sources of relative innovation underperformance in Europe vis-à-vis the USA. In this article, we investigate the R&D and ICT investment at the firm level in an effort to assess their relative importance and to what extent they are complements or substitutes. We use data on a large unbalanced panel data sample of Italian manufacturing firms constructed from four consecutive waves of a survey of manufacturing firms, to estimate a version of the CDM model of R&D, innovation, and productivity [Crépon–Duguet–Mairesse 1998. Research, innovation and productivity: An econometric analysis at the firm level. Economics of Innovation and New Technology 7, no. 2: 115–58] that has been modified to include ICT investment and R&D as the two main inputs into innovation and productivity. We find that R&D and ICT are both strongly associated with innovation and productivity, with R&D being more important for innovation, and ICT investment being more important for productivity. For the median firm, rates of return to both investments are so high that they suggest considerably underinvestment in both these activities. We explore the possible complementarity between R&D and ICT in innovation and production, but find none, although we do find complementarity between R&D and worker skill in innovation.

The impact of ICT on productivity of Italian firms: evaluation of the micro-complementarity hypothesis

The seminal work of Milgrom and Roberts (1990) established that interactions between factors such as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), organization and human capital entail a complementary relationship between these inputs; from such interactions, firms are able to exploit productivity gains arising from ICT investment. The empirical analysis is conducted on a panel of Italian manufacturing firms covering the period 2001–2006. The application of a suited System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) estimator shows that for firms engaging ICT there exists a more coherent relationship between pair inputs and also among all three inputs considered.

Evidence on the Impact of R&D and ICT Investment on Innovation and Productivity in Italian Firms

The paper investigates R&D and ICT investment at firm level, assessing their relative importance and the extent to which they are complements or substitutes. We use data on a large unbalanced panel sample from four consecutive waves of a survey of Italian manufacturing firms, together with a version of the model developed by Crepon et al., 1998, modified to include ICT investment and R&D as the two main inputs of innovation and productivity. We find that R&D and ICT are both strongly associated with innovation and productivity, with R&D being more important for innovation and ICT for productivity. We explore their possible complementarity in innovation and production but find none, although there is complementarity between R&D and worker skill in innovation.