Civic capital and the size distribution of plants: short-run dynamics and long-run equilibrium

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. We characterize how the size distribution of plants, within narrowly defined industries, changed in Italy over a ten-year time span, and relate this to the stock of civic capital at the provincial level. Data on plant size come from the 1991 and 2001 Italian censuses. Civic capital turns out to have a positive effect on both the average and standard deviation of size. Looking at several precise points of the plant size distribution, we find that it shifts toward the right and becomes more dispersed where civic capital is high. The potential endogeneity of current civic capital is addressed by instrumenting it with historical variables. Our main conclusion is that the geographic variation in the stock of civic capital poses substantial constraints on plants' ability to expand. Understanding this is the key for the implementation of effective industrial policies. Looking at several precise points of the plant size distribution, we find that it shifts toward the right and becomes more dispersed where civic capital is high. The potential endogeneity of current civic capital is addressed by instrumenting it with historical variables. Our main conclusion is that the geographic variation in the stock of civic capital poses substantial constraints on plants' ability to expand. Understanding this is the key for the implementation of effective industrial policies. Terms of use: Documents inJEL Classification: A13, D23, L20, R12.

Civic Capital and Service Outsourcing: Evidence from Italy

“…Finally, our results complement the findings of Bloom et al (2012) and Bürker and Minerva (2014) on the relationship between trust and civic capital and the size of private organizations. The fact that civic capital increases service outsourcing could bring a reduction in size, because the firm sources to external suppliers some activities.…”

“…In the following, we address endogeneity concerns related to omitted variables or measurement error by instrumenting civic capital with historical measures. We follow de Blasio and Nuzzo 2010and Bürker and Minerva (2014) for the choice of historical instruments. Instrumenting civic capital with historical measures is a widely adopted strategy in the literature aimed at establishing a causal relationship between civic capital and socio-economic outcomes (de Blasio and Nuzzo, 2010; Tabellini, 2010;Guiso et al, 2016).…”

“…The fact that civic capital increases service outsourcing could bring a reduction in size, because the firm sources to external suppliers some activities. This notwithstanding, results in Bloom et al (2012) and Bürker and Minerva (2014) show that there are other mechanisms at work that ensure that the total effect of civic capital on average size is still positive.…”

Social capital, resilience, and regional diversification in Italy

“…Regions with bridging social capital are also those where input-output relations are favored (Burker and Minerva 2014;Antonietti et al 2016). Therefore, the 'bridging' nature of this form of institution should favor the creation of new activities, especially in areas that are not strictly related to existing specializations in the region.…”

“…Crescenzi et al 2013a,b;Burker and Minerva 2014), bridging social capital (BRIDGING SK) is based on information concerning the number of blood donations per 1,000 inhabitants (in 2002) and the number of voluntary associations per km 2 in 2001-02.…”