Articles in refereed Journals
"Firm hierarchy and the market for knowledge" (with M. Vatiero), 2024, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, forthcoming
"Extended Producer Responsibility and Trade Flows in Waste: The Case of Batteries" (with M. Compagnoni, M. Grazzi and C. Tomasi), 2024, Environmental and Resource Economics, forthcoming
Media coverage: [VoxEu] [in Italian: InsiDem]
"Coping with high decline: firms' resilience to adversity" (with S. Esteve-Pérez and D. Rodriguez), 2024, Small Business Economics, 63, 193-219
"Red tape and industry dynamics: a cross-country analysis" (with C. Tomasi and V. Cecco), 2023, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics - Economia e Politica Industriale, 50, 283–320
"CEO age, shareholder monitoring, and the organic growth of European firms" (with G. Barba Navaretti and D. Castellani), 2022, Small Business Economics, 59, 361- 382
"One swallow does not make a summer: Episodes and persistence in high-growth" (with S. Esteve-Pérez and D. Rodriguez), 2022, Small Business Economics, 58, 1517-1544
"From central planning towards a market economy: The role of ownership and competition in Vietnamese firms' productivity" (with Manh-Duc Le and E. Zaninotto), 2019, Journal of Comparative Economics, 47 (3), 693-716
"The determinants of corporate profitability in the Italian domestic appliances industry" (with R. Verruso), 2019, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics - Economia e Politica Industriale, 46 (1), 83-115
"Modelling the joint impact of R&D and ICT on productivity: A frontier analysis approach" (with M. Vecchi and F. Venturini), 2018, Research Policy, 47 (9), 1842-1852
"Vertical organization of production and firm growth", 2018, Industrial and Corporate Change, 27 (1), 83-106
"Age and productivity as determinants of firm survival over the industry life cycle" (with S. Esteve-Pérez and D. Rodriguez), 2018, Industry and Innovation, 25 (2), 167-198
"Product market regulation and innovation efficiency" (with C. Franco and F. Venturini), 2016, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 45 (3), 299-315
"Outward Investments and Productivity. Evidence from European Regions" (with D. Castellani), 2016, Regional Studies, 50 (12), 1945-1964
"Age and firm growth. Evidence from three European countries" (with G. Barba Navaretti and D. Castellani), 2014, Small Business Economics, 43(4), 823-837
"Technical efficiency and the vertical boundaries of the firm: theory and evidence" (with E. Zaninotto), 2013, Applied Economics Letters, 20(17), 1538-1543
"R&D offshoring and the productivity growth of European regions" (with D. Castellani), 2013, Research Policy, 42(9), 1581-1594
"Vertical integration and efficiency: an application to the Italian machine tool industry" (with E. Zaninotto), 2013, Small Business Economics, 40(2), 397-416
Book chapters
"Innovation and Survival of Spanish Manufacturing Firms"(with S. Esteve-Peréz and D. Rodríguez), 2014, in Innovation, Globalization and Firm Dynamics: Lessons for Enterprise Policy, chp. 5, ed. by A. Ferragina, E. Taymaz and K. Yilmaz, Routledge
(in Italian) "Le imprese che cambiano classe: l'Italia nel contesto europeo" (with G. Barba Navaretti and D. Castellani), 2011, in Costruire il futuro, chp. 4, ed. by G. Nardozzi and L. Paolazzi, Confindustria
"The Effect of Foreign Investments on European Regional Competitiveness" (with D. Castellani), 2010, in Business services: the new frontier of competitivess, chp.4, ed. by G. Giovannetti, P. Guerrieri and B. Quintieri, Fondazione Masi, Rubettino
(in Italian) "Investimenti diretti esteri e produttività: le regioni italiane nel contesto europeo" (with D. Castellani), 2010, in Reti di imprese e territorio tra vincoli e nuove opportunità dopo la crisi, chp. 10, ed. by A. Zazzaro, il Mulino
"Municipal procurement, productivity and dynastic management: Evidence from Italian firms " (with M. Augliera and A. Ricci), January 2024, DEM Working Paper 2024/01
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.
"Firm Human Resource Practices and Educational Mismatch" (with G. Berloffa and D. Piazzalunga), November 2024, IZA Discussion Paper No. 17424
Abstract: The paper introduces a new measure of educational mismatch at the firm level, constructed by merging firm and individual data at the sector-firm size-year level. This measure captures both the intensity of mismatch and its type – whether overeducation, undereducation, or a mix of the two. We assess the role of human resource practices in reducing the intensity of educational mismatch in Italian firms by estimating econometric models that control for a rich set of firm characteristics, as well as year and industry-region fixed effects. Firm-fixed effects and instrumental variable models complement the analysis. Findings indicate that the use of private recruitment agencies, on-the-job training, and structured supervision is associated with a reduction in mismatch intensity. The impact of other practices varies by mismatch type: higher job turnover rates correlate with lower undereducation but increased overeducation, while second-level bargaining increases undereducation and reduces overeducation.
"Labor flexibility and innovation: the importance of firms’ heterogeneity " (with M. Augliera and G. Berloffa), May 2022, currently: R&R, LdA Development Studies Working Papers 481
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.
"Skill intensity, trade and technology in Vietnam" (with Q.-T. Le and C. Tomasi), uncompleted draft
"Municipal public procurement and the labor share" (with A. Ricci and C. Vittori), uncompleted draft
"Knowledge-based hierarchies and emerging technologies" (with A. Tariq and M. Vatiero), uncompleted draft
Essays on Productivity and Efficiency Analysis, University of Trento (2010)