0000000000347063
AUTHOR
Fabio Pieri
Technical efficiency and the vertical boundaries of the firm: theory and evidence
This article provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between firms’ technical efficiency and the vertical organization of production. Technical inefficiency is explicitly introduced as the source of firms’ heterogeneity in a Bertrand–Nash model of industry competition: the main prediction of the model is that the most efficient firms choose vertical integrated structures and the less-efficient ones choose disintegrated structures. The empirical part of the article rests on a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) in a sample of about 400 Italian machine tool (MT) builders, and the result supports the prediction of the theoretical model.
R&D Offshoring and the Productivity Growth of European Regions
The recent increase in R&D offshoring have raised fears that knowledge and competitiveness in advanced countries may be at risk of `hollowing out\'. At the same time, economic research has stressed that this process is also likely to allow some reverse technology transfer and foster growth at home. This paper addresses this issue by investigating the extent to which R&D offshoring is associated with productivity dynamics of European regions. We find that offshoring regions have higher productivity growth, but this positive effect fades down with the number of investment projects carried out abroad. A large and positive correlation emerge between the extent of R&D offshoring and the home reg…
One swallow does not make a summer: episodes and persistence in high growth
This paper analyzes firms’ episodes (spells) of high growth (HG) using a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms observed over two decades. The use of duration models allows us to investigate the following: (i) the probability of experiencing HG episodes, (ii) persistence in HG, and (iii) the determinants of the transitions in and out of the HG state and whether their impact varies over the business cycle. We find that about half of the firms experience at least one HG episode, but they seldom experience more than one. Moreover, high-growth status is rarely repeated due to high first-year selection. Yet, in subsequent years beyond the first one, the hazard rate from HG status falls substantia…
Age and productivity as determinants of firm survival over the industry life cycle
AbstractThis paper contributes to fill the gap between the literature on the determinants of firm survival and the empirical works on the industry life cycle (ILC). Using a representative sample of Spanish firms with 10 or more employees over the period 1993–2009, the role played by firm age and productivity in firm survival is empirically analysed across three stages of the life cycle of forty-seven 3-digit manufacturing sectors. In the ‘early’ stage of the ILC, firm age is negatively correlated with hazard rates while firm productivity is not. Firm productivity is associated with lower hazard in the ‘mature’ stage of the ILC, when competition is primarily efficiency-driven, while firm age…
Outward Investments and Productivity: Evidence from European Regions
Castellani D. and Pieri F. Outward investments and productivity: evidence from European regions, Regional Studies. Using a novel data set on international investment projects, this paper builds measures of outward foreign direct investments (FDIs) for 262 regions of the European Union. This allows as estimation to be made of regressions of productivity growth over the 2007–11 period as a function of the number of FDIs. The number of outward FDIs in manufacturing activities is negatively associated with productivity growth in the home region, but investments in sales, distribution and marketing are associated with a boost in local productivity. This is driven especially by investments toward…