Publications & research

Publications

Articles in refereed Journals

 

Book chapters


Working papers 

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the impact of public procurement contracts tendered by municipalities on the productivity of the firms located there. To this end, we combine firm-level information on a representative sample of Italian limited liability companies with administrative records on the universe of public procurement contracts in the period 2010-2018. We strengthen our analysis by using an instrumental variable approach that exploits the unexpected exemption of households from paying municipal property tax on their first home, which occurred in Italy in 2008 and heterogeneously affected the ability of municipalities to tender procurement contracts in the subsequent years. We find that, ceteris paribus, a higher per capita value of public procurement contracts at the municipal level leads to higher productivity of the typical firm located there. In addition, the positive relationship between procurement and productivity is significantly weakened for firms with dynastic top management (i.e. belonging to the owner’s family), suggesting a potential misallocation of public resources and a consequent lower impact on overall productivity. 


Abstract: In the debate on international waste trade, the focus on resource efficiency and recycling has gradually begun to accompany the focus on negative environmental externalities. In this context, we examine the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on the export of waste batteries (WB). EPR is considered as a key policy for the “marketization of waste”. On the other hand, WB are a hazardous waste that also contain a high concentration of critical raw materials. As such, they are of strategic importance for the recovery of critical resources, while at the same time requiring proper environmental management. Therefore, it is crucial to understand where WB are treated and how this is affected by related policies. Our results, based on difference-in-difference models in a gravity framework, show a consistent increase in WB exports after EPR implementation compared to the trend for other wastes. This result is likely to be an indirect consequence of the ability of EPR to support growth in waste collection rates, more accurate tracking of transboundary waste flows, and specialization of national waste management systems. In particular, EPR exports appear to be directed to countries with more advanced waste management systems rather than to developing countries. 


Abstract: This paper investigates the role of the market for knowledge in shaping firm hierarchy—that is, the span of control and the number of layers. We predict that, the larger the extent of the market for knowledge, the larger the span of control and the fewer the layers. We test our predictions using a rich database representing industrial firms in Italy during 2005-2018. Our identification strategy is based on existing cross-regional and cross-industry heterogeneity within the extent of the market for business services’ providers and instrumental variables. Results confirm that firms are flatter as the regional market for knowledge expands. 


Abstract: This work investigates the relationship between the numerical flexibility of a firm’s workforce and its innovative performance, taking into account the heterogeneity of firms and labor contracts. Using longitudinal data on Italian firms, we find that the share of temporary employees has a positive and significant effect on innovation for small and micro firms in low-tech and less knowledge-intensive sectors and a negative effect for medium and large firms in high-tech and knowledge-intensive sectors. These results suggest that managers and entrepreneurs may use temporary employment as an effective human resource practice to foster innovation in those firms whose technology or knowledge do not require vast and firm-specific investments. They also highlight possible unintended consequences of changes in the employment protection legislation for firms’ innovative performance. Functional flexibility (training policies) and wage flexibility (second-level wage bargaining scheme) are neither substitutes nor complements to numerical flexibility, suggesting that firms use numerical, functional, and wage flexibility in different combinations .


Works in progress


Doctoral thesis