Regional economic divide and the role of technological spillovers in Italy. Evidence from microdata

Aiello, Francesco; Cardamone, Paola

doi:10.1016/j.strueco.2012.03.001

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Conversely, the spatial lag of R&D, included as additional regressor in specification (3), does not have a significant coefficient (column 2 of Table ). This seems to suggest an absence of geographical R&D spillovers, which is in contrast with a number of previous works (among the others, Adams and Jaffe ; Aiello and Cardamone ; Orlando ). However, it would seem appropriate to evaluate the role of R&D on the basis of spatial econometric techniques (Autant‐Bernard ; Autant‐Bernard and LeSage ).…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

A Spatial Analysis of the R&D-Productivity Nexus at Firm Level

Cardamone¹

2016

Growth and Change

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The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of research and development (R&D) on productivity by taking into account productivity spillovers. To this end, by using a sample of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2004–2006 provided by the Xth UniCredit‐Capitalia survey (2008), we have analyzed the role of R&D in firm productivity by using a spatial autoregressive model. In so doing, we have allowed the productivity of each firm to be affected by the productivity of nearby firms. Results show that R&D significantly affects Italian firm productivity and that productivity spillovers across firms matter. Moreover, productivity is found to be positively affected by intrasectoral R&D spillovers, while intersectoral R&D spillovers do not have a significant effect.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

A Spatial Analysis of the R&D-Productivity Nexus at Firm Level

Cardamone¹

2016

Growth and Change

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“…Figure instead shows the total TFP impact of the four agglomeration economies (localization, variety, urbanization and local competition) across the Italian provinces. This map clearly suggests that agglomeration economies contribute to reinforce the historical North‐South divide (measured in terms of GDP per capita , as well as productivity, efficiency and R&D spillovers, as shown among the others by Dettori et al., ; Aiello and Cardamone ; Foddi and Usai )…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 61%

Spatial agglomeration and productivity in Italy: A panel smooth transition regression approach

Cainelli

Fracasso

Marzetti

2015

Papers in Regional Science

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The paper analyses the nonlinearities in the impact of localization, diversity, urbanization and competition on firm-level total factor productivity (TFP), using a large sample of Italian firms from 1999 to 2007. We adopt a panel smooth transition regression model, so that the TFP elasticities are free to vary smoothly across two or more extreme values. Results show that localization economies and Jacobian externalities materialize only for values of, respectively, intra-industry agglomeration and extra-sectoral diversity above a certain threshold. Local competition exerts a positive effect on productivity, even though the marginal impact shrinks at high levels of competition. We find instead no evidence of diseconomies of agglomeration.JEL classification: C23, C24, D24, R12, R15

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“…If there are few innovators and these do not cooperate each other, then the spatial diffusion of knowledge will be restricted and productivity and technological spillovers will be limited. This means that firms will not be able to benefit from simply adopting the technology made by others and from economies of agglomeration, as proved by many authors [27]- [31]. On the other hand, we know that innovators are not only limited in number, but that the investments they make are small in scale.…”

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confidence: 98%

Being Efficient to Stay Strong in a Weak Economy. The Case of Calabrian Manufacturing Firms

Aiello

Castiglione

2014

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The aim of this work is to study the efficiency of firms operating in Calabria, a small and economically-lagging Italian region. The analysis is carried out by estimating a stochastic production frontier for an unbalanced panel of manufacturing firms which are observed over the 1998-2006 period. Results show that the efficiency score is, on average, about 60%. A declining trend is observed over the last three-year period, 2004-2006. Moreover, efficiency increases with firm age and when firms export. Inconclusive evidence is found for the role of investments in ICT and R&D. This is not very surprising given that private effort in technological activities is extremely low in Calabria (private R&D intensity was less than 0.075% of regional GDP in 2010). Keywords ICT, R&D, Stochastic Frontier, Calabria, Manufacturing FirmsF. Aiello, C. Castiglione 96 nomies: a high degree of dependence on external public transfers; a low degree of internationalization; a weak innovative system; a fragile financial structure; widespread corruption. Just an example for all. When considering the regional innovation system, it emerges that in Calabria the investments in R&D were, in 2010, 150 MLN of Euros, about 0.5% of regional GDP. In Italy this figure is equal to 1.53%, about half of 3% target set for Italy by Europe 2020. Dramatic signals come also from the composition of Research and Development (R&D) expenditure: in 2010, 85% of investments are made by universities. The differences between Calabria and the rest of Italy are therefore really worrying in the private-sector: when in Calabria firms spend 1 euro in R&D, the counterparts in the north-west of Italy spend 11 euro. In short, Calabria is an interesting case-study because firms face a context that is poorly endowed in terms of external factors which act as stimulus and support for individual growth.By following this line of reasoning, it becomes extremely interesting to analyze how Calabrian firms react to the absence of any type of positive territorial externality. They can act by adopting the best practices in order to be internally strong and efficient and overcome the diseconomies of being located in a poor economy. To this end, this work applies the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) to measure the efficiency scores of an unbalanced panel data of Calabrian manufacturing firms observed over the 1998-2006 period. Efficiency is meant to be the distance from the regional production frontier, which we estimated by using the model specification proposed by [8]. Data are from the VIII, IX and X surveys carried out by Mediocredito Centrale-Capitalia (MCC) and Capitalia-UniCredit.With regard the economic model used in the empirical setting, it is clear that efficiency gains are dependent on many factors, the most influent of which should be the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the R&D efforts made by each company. In other words, it is expected that the introducing and adopting of technology will translate to a systemic increase in efficiency and productivity...

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Regional economic divide and the role of technological spillovers in Italy. Evidence from microdata

Cited by 8 publications

References 52 publications

A Spatial Analysis of the R&D-Productivity Nexus at Firm Level

A Spatial Analysis of the R&D-Productivity Nexus at Firm Level

Spatial agglomeration and productivity in Italy: A panel smooth transition regression approach

Being Efficient to Stay Strong in a Weak Economy. The Case of Calabrian Manufacturing Firms

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