Articles in refereed Journals
"Firm hierarchy and the market for knowledge" (with M. Vatiero), 2025, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 34 (3), 714-742
"Municipal procurement, productivity and dynastic management: Evidence from Italian firms" (with M. Augliera and A. Ricci), 2025, Applied Economics, forthcoming, 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2025.2539533
"Extended Producer Responsibility and Trade Flows in Waste: The Case of Batteries" (with M. Compagnoni, M. Grazzi and C. Tomasi), 2025, Environmental and Resource Economics, 88, 43-76.
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
"Firm hierarchy and emerging technologies" (with A. Tariq and M. Vatiero), September 2025, DEM Working Paper 2025/05
Abstract: Drawing upon the conceptualization of firm hierarchies as cognitive systems for managing exceptions within the productive process, this paper examines the transformative impact of emerging technologies on the two hierarchical dimensions of firms, i.e., their depth and their span of control. We distinguish between two broad categories of emerging technologies: Emerging Information Technologies (EIT), encompassing IoT, AR/VR, big data analytics, cloud computing and information security upgrades, and Robotic Technologies (RT), primarily including automation and robotics. We develop a conceptual framework to hypothesize that these technologies are not neutral with respect to a firm’s hierarchy; rather, they exert nuanced and at times ambivalent effects on both its depth and the span of control. Leveraging a theoretically grounded framework, we empirically test hypotheses using rich longitudinal firm-level data from the Rilevazione Longitudinale Imprese e Lavoro (RIL) survey in Italy. Our findings reveal that EIT and RT shape hierarchical structures in distinct and subtle ways, at times fostering organizational flattening and at others strengthening hierarchy. By shedding light on the heterogeneous organizational responses to technological innovation, especially at the upper echelons of the hierarchy, this study advances the literature on institutional and organizational economics and contributes to a deeper understanding the evolving nature of firm hierarchy and technological change.
"Firm Human Resource Practices and Educational Mismatch" (with G. Berloffa and D. Piazzalunga), September 2025, currently: R&R (2nd round) DEM Working Paper 2025/03 (previous version: 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 incidence of mismatch and its type – whether overeducation, undereducation, or a mix of the two. We then assess the role of human resource practices in reducing the incidence 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. On-the-job training is consistently linked to lower educational mismatch; narrower spans of control and private recruitment agencies are also associated with lower mismatch, but show sector- and type of mismatch-specific associations. Public employment services show no consistent relationship with educational mismatch, and second-level wage bargaining is negatively associated with mismatch in firms with prevalent overeducation, but positively associated in those with prevalent undereducation.
"Spending and Sharing: How Municipal Procurement Shapes the Labor Share" (with A. Ricci and C. Vittori), R&R (1st round), DEM Working Paper 2025/04
Abstract: We examine how municipal procurement shapes firms’ labor share. Merging procurement records for Italian municipalities (2011–2018) with firm-level data, we find that larger per-capita spending modestly but significantly reduces the labor share. The decline reflects productivity gains that outpace wage growth and is confined to North-Center municipalities, where procurement spending is greatest. Public spending may favor capital unless contracts include clauses on wages, hiring, or training.
"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.
"Firm closures during COVID-19: Government support to businesses and entrepreneurial ecosystems" (with D. Iacobucci and F. Perugini), submitted
"Employment adjustment to trade liberalization: evidence from Vietnamese SMEs" (with Q.-T. Le and C. Tomasi), uncompleted draft
"Educational mismatch and the adoption of emerging technologies" (with L. Bisio and M. Lucchese)
"Do digital technologies enable green upgrading? Firm-level evidence from Italy" (with S. Montresor and F. Lelli)
"Public procurement as collateral: Effects of contract wins on firms’ access to credit" (with E. Caggiano , S. D’Addona and C. Vittori), uncompleted draft
"Bossless (high) growth" (with A. Tariq and M. Vatiero), uncompleted draft
Essays on Productivity and Efficiency Analysis, University of Trento (2010)