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Plain English Summary COVID-19 has imposed restrictions on labor mobility and this turns out to be relevant for productivity and economic growth. Business visits (BVs) are a proper proxy (unique information is taken from the US National Business Travel Association) to measure short-term mobility. Sectoral data in 14 countries over the period 1998-2013 are used. Results do reveal that BVs have a positive impact on labor productivity. However, this effect is more relevant in those sectors and economies at a lower stage of productivity evolution, i.e., the lower the initial productivity level, the larger the effect of BVs on productivity. Therefore, BVs play a relevant role in sectors and countries lagging behind in terms of productivity. Policy makers should foster, in the post-pandemic recovery, short-term labor mobility through adequate incentives and tax exemptions, particularly in those sectors where BVs are less frequent and where productivity growth is below the average.The restrictions on labor mobility imposed in the COVID-19 pandemic heighten the need to review in detail the role of mobility in improving productivity and fostering economic growth. In this study, we carry out a comprehensive analysis of business visits (BVs) understood as a productivity-enhancing intrapreneurial strategy, using the most extensive set of data available, covering 33 sectors and 14 countries during the period 1998-2013. Our database merges unique information on expenditures on BVs by sector, country, and year, sourced from the US National Business Travel Association, with OECD and World Bank productivity data. We find that BVs raise labor productivity in a significant way, but short-term labor mobility exhibits decreasing returns, being more crucial in those firms, sectors, and countries characterized by less mobility and by lower productivity performances.

In this work, we test the employment impact of distinct types of innovative investments using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2002-2013. Our GMM-SYS estimates generate various results, which are partially in contrast with the extant literature. Indeed, estimations carried out on the entire sample do not provide statistically significant evidence of the expected labor-friendly nature of innovation. More in detail, neither R&D nor investment in innovative machineries and equipment (the so-called embodied technological change, ETC) turn out to have any significant employment effect. However, the job-creation impact of R&D expenditures becomes highly significant when the focus is limited to the high-tech firms. On the other hand - and interestingly - ETC exhibits its labor-saving nature when SMEs are singled out.

This paper addresses, both theoretically and empirically, the sectoral patterns of job creation and job destruction in order to distinguish the alternative effects of embodied vs disembodied technological change operating into a two-sector economy. Disembodied technological change turns out to positively affect employment dynamics in the “upstream” sectors, while expansionary investment does so in the “downstream” industries. However, these labour-friendly impacts are barely significant from a statistical point of view. Conversely, the replacement of obsolete capital vintages tends to exert a negative impact on labour demand and this effect turns out to be highly significant.

Fil: D’Annolfo, Raffaele. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Italia. Fil: Gemmill-Herren, Barbara. Prescott College. Estados Unidos. Fil: Amudavi, David. Biovision Africa Trust. Kenia. Fil: Shiraku, Hudson. Biovision Africa Trust. Kenia. Fil: Piva, Mariacristina. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Italia. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas A. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. Río Negro, Argentina. There is a need for scaling-up agroecology to promote sustainable agriculture at global level. Although, recent studies show that agroecological approaches can achieve both high yields and profits compared with conventional systems, the performance of other socioeconomic indicators remains unknown. This study has two objectives (i) identify the main characteristics of small-scale producers who represent the target-groups of the SDG 2; (ii) provide a comparison between push–pull and conventional farming systems of maize production to explore and possibly implement sustainable systems. In collaboration with Biovision Africa Trust, a participatory assessment framework was implemented in Western Kenya. Twenty-three farmers were selected and data were analysed showing that the push–pull contributes to social/cultural and natural/ecological capitals. In particular, push–pull farmers are more focused on socially oriented groups (75%); moreover, they cultivate smaller plots (1.9 ha) compared to conventional farmers (3.1 ha) without showing a reduction in profitability. The benefits of adopting push–pull system indicated by farmers (e.g. diminished Striga weed) are consistent with the advantages reported in relevant scientific literature. Considering the explorative nature of this study, the article makes a key contribution by pointing towards important questions for future research on agroecology in Sub-Saharan African countries.

In this paper we investigate how the knowledge production function is at work in different industrial sectors comparing mature and young companies in Italy. We estimate a two-step model using community innovation survey data. We provide evidence that young firms are particularly effective in translating R&D into product innovation in ‘entrepreneurial sectors’ (especially in services where it is likely that capital requirements and experience are negligible), while mature companies turn out to be more effective in translating technological acquisitions (TAs) into process innovation in ‘routinized sectors’ (especially in low-tech manufacturing industries where the main strategy is cost reduction).

We investigate whether labor mobility can be a distinct source of growth by studying the productivity impact of business visits (BVs), vis-à-vis that of other well-known drivers of productivity enhancement. Our analysis uses an unbalanced panel—covering on average 16 sectors per year in ten countries during the period 1998–2011—which combines unique and novel data on BVs sourced from the US National Business Travel Association with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data on R&D and capital formation. We find that mobility through BVs is an effective mechanism to improve productivity, being about half that obtained by investing in R&D. This relevant finding invites viewing short-term mobility as a strategic mechanism and prospective policy tool to overcome productivity slowdowns and foster economic growth.

EnglishThe essay deals with the complex and articulated relationship between technology and employment, offering food for thought about the effects of the current technological trajectory on qualifications and tasks italianoIl saggio affronta la complessa ed articolata relazione esistente tra tecnologia e occupazione offrendo spunti di riflessione in merito agli effetti dell’attuale traiettoria tecnologica su qualifiche e mansioni.

This paper investigates, both theoretically and empirically, the implications that complementary assets needed for the formation of start-ups - proxied by the ease of access to financial resources - have on the innovative efforts of incumbent firms. In particular, we develop a theoretical model, highlighting a strategic in- centive effect by which the innovative efforts of incumbent firms are decreasing in the availability of the complementary assets needed for the creation of a start- up. The empirical relevance of this effect is investigated by using firm level data drawn from the third Italian Community Innovation Survey covering the period 1998-2000. The results of our empirical analysis support our theory-based insights.

Using data on the US and EU top R&D spenders from 2004 until 2012, this paper investigates the sources of the US/EU productivity gap. We find robust evidence that US firms have a higher capacity to translate R&D into productivity gains (especially in the high-tech macro sector), and this contributes to explaining the higher productivity of US firms. Conversely, EU firms are more likely to achieve productivity gains through capital-embodied technological change, at least in the medium- and low-tech macro sectors. Our results also show that the US/EU productivity gap has worsened during the crisis period, as the EU companies have been more affected by the economic crisis in their capacity to translate R&D investments into productivity. Based on these findings, we make a case for a learning-based and selective R&D funding, which, instead of purely aiming at stimulating higher R&D expenditures, works on improving the firms’ capabilities to transform R&D into productivity gains

Using a unique firm-level database comprising the top European R&D investors over the period 2002–2013 and running LSDVC estimates, this study finds a significant labor-friendly impact of R&D expenditures. However, this positive employment effect appears limited in magnitude and entirely due to the medium- and high-tech sectors, while no effect can be detected in the low-tech industries. From a policy point of view, this outcome supports the EU2020 strategy but—taking into account that most European economies are specialized in low-tech activities—is also worrying in terms of future perspectives of the European labor market.

The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, the economic insights on the employment impact of technological change are discussed covering both classical theories and updated theoretical and empirical analyses. On the other hand, an empirical test is provided; in particular, longitudinal data—covering manufacturing and service sectors over the 1998–2011 period for 11 European countries—are used to run GMM-SYS and LSDVC estimates. Two are the main results: (1) a significant labor-friendly impact of R&D expenditures (mainly related to product innovation) is found; yet, this positive employment effect appears to be entirely due to medium and high-tech sectors, while no effect can be detected in low-tech industries; (2) capital formation is found to be negatively related to employment; this outcome suggests a possible labor-saving effect due to the embodied technological change incorporated in gross investment (mainly related to process innovation).

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between global versus regional orientation and the performance of international new ventures (INVs). Building on internalization theory and organizational learning literature, we develop two competing hypotheses on the performance effect of geographic scope on INV performance. We test these hypotheses on a sample of Italian manufacturing INVs. The study extends the regionalization/globalization debate to the context of INVs. Our findings show that INVs mainly operate on a regional, rather than global basis. However, when they succeed in achieving a global reach, the effect on profitability is positive and significant, supporting the hypothesis that global orientation improves firm performance.

The literature has pointed to different causes to explain the productivity gap between the EU and the US in the last decades. This paper tests the hypothesis that the lower European productivity performance in comparison with the US can be explained not only by a lower level of corporate R&D investment but also by a lower capacity to translate R&D investment into productivity gains. The proposed microeconometric estimates are based on a unique longitudinal database covering the period 1990-2008 and comprising 1,809 US and EU companies for a total of 16,079 observations. Consistent with previous literature, we find robust evidence of a significant impact of R&D on productivity; however, using different estimation techniques, the R&D coefficients for the US firms always turn out to be significantly higher. To see to what extent these transatlantic differences in the R&D/productivity relationship may be related to the different sectoral structures in the US and the EU, we differentiated the analysis by sectors. The result is that both in manufacturing, services and high-tech manufacturing sectors US firms are more able to translate their R&D investments into productivity increases.

Iammarino S., Piva M., Vivarelli M. and von Tunzelmann N. Technological capabilities and patterns of innovative cooperation of firms in the UK regions, Regional Studies. This paper focuses on the relationship between firms' technological capabilities and different forms of cooperation for innovation, paying specific attention to the role of regional location of the firm. The findings, based on the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS4), show that cooperation within business groups, vertical cooperation with customers and suppliers, and horizontal cooperation with universities turn out to be significantly associated with firms' technological capabilities. However, it is found that the analysis for the UK as a whole masks stark regional differences in terms of the relationship between local and non-local collaborative linkages and firms' technological capabilities and competences. Iammarino S., Piva M., Vivarelli M. and von Tunzelmann N. 英国区域中企业创新合作的技术能力与模式，区域研究。本论文聚焦企业技术能力以及追求创新的不同合作形态之间的关联性，并特别关注企业区...

Research on factors affecting the internationalization of SMEs is attracting growing interest. However, only a limited number of empirical analyses have explored the question of if and to what extent the family character of the firm has an effect on internationalization decisions. Relying on data from a sample of 1,324 Italian manufacturing SMEs, this paper shows that involvement of the owning family in management negatively influences export propensity but, once the choice to go international has been made, both the degree of internationalization and geographical scope in family-managed firms are not significantly different from nonfamily-managed firms. Empirical results also show that the level of human capital and the presence of foreign shareholders in the SMEs positively influence internationalization. Innovation propensity, size, and age of the firm as well as industry characteristics are included in the analysis as control variables.

This paper discusses the link between R&D and productivity across the European industrial and service sectors. The empirical analysis is based on both the European sectoral OECD data and on a unique micro-longitudinal database consisting of 532 top European R&D investors. The main conclusions are as follows. First, the R&D stock has a significant positive impact on labor productivity; this general result is largely consistent with previous literature in terms of the sign, the significance, and the magnitude of the estimated coefficients. More interestingly, both at sectoral and firm levels the R&D coefficient increases monotonically (both in significance and magnitude) when we move from the low-tech to the medium- and high-tech sectors. This outcome means that corporate R&D investment is more effective in the high-tech sectors and this may need to be taken into account when designing policy instruments (subsidies, fiscal incentives, etc.) in support of private R&D. However, R&D investment is not the sole source of productivity gains; technological change embodied in gross investment is of comparable importance on aggregate and is the main determinant of productivity increase in the low-tech sectors. Hence, an economic policy aiming to increase productivity in the low-tech sectors should support overall capital formation

This paper analyses the determinants of product innovation in Italian young innovative companies (YICs) by looking at in-house and external R&D and at the acquisition of external technology in its embodied and disembodied components. A Tobit approach is applied to study jointly the occurrence of product innovation and the intensity of such innovation. Results provide evidence that in-house R&D is linked to product innovation both in mature firms and YICs; however, YICs turn out to be less in-house R&D-based and more dependent on external sources of knowledge. Moreover, other entrepreneurial attitudes such as the ability to cooperate with other firms in producing innovation or the capacity to develop significant organizational changes appear to be less important or even absent in Italian YICs. These results are somehow worrying, since they show that Italian innovative entrepreneurs are mostly driven by routinized rather than creative strategies.

After discussing theory regarding the consequences of technological change on employment, our aim is to test the possible job creation effect of business R&D expenditures, using a unique longitudinal database covering 677 European firms (1990-2008). The main outcome from the dynamic LSDVC (Least Squared Dummy Variable Corrected) estimate is the labour-friendly nature of companies’ R&D, the coefficient of which turns out to be statistically significant. However, the positive impact of R&D on employment is only detectable in services and high-tech manufacturing. This is something that should be borne in mind by European policy makers having employment as one of their aims.

This chapter focuses on the relationship between firms’ technological competencies and capabilities and different forms of cooperation for innovation by combining the analysis of both micro and meso levels, i.e. the level of the firm and of the geographical region. Our findings, based on the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey (CIS), provide new insights regarding the relationship between cooperative linkages for innovation and firms’ technological status. Firstly, the distinction between competencies and capabilities adopted in this chapter seems appropriate for going beyond the rather simplistic dichotomy of ‘innovative’ versus ‘non-innovative’ firms commonly used in interpreting CIS data. Secondly, we find that the analysis for the UK as a whole masks stark regional differences in terms of intra- and extra-region collaborative linkages and firms’ technological status.

The job creation effect of business R&D is tested applying the dynamic LSDVC estimator to a longitudinal database covering 677 European companies over the period 1990–2008. Job creation is detected in services and high-tech manufacturing, but not in traditional sectors.

This paper discusses the determinants of product innovation in young innovative companies (YICs) by looking at in-house and external R&D and at the acquisition of external technology in its embodied and disembodied components. These ‘innovative’ input-output relationships are tested on a sample of 2,713 innovative Italian firms. A sample-selection approach is applied to study both the determinants of product innovation and the factors affecting the intensity of innovation. Results show that in-house R&D is linked to the propensity to introduce product innovation both in mature firms and YICs; however, innovation intensity in the YICs is mainly dependent on embodied technical change from external sources, while in-house R&D does not play a significant role.

How is the R&D-productivity link affected by the environment where firms locate? Are companies located with their registered offices in more R&D favorable environments better able to translate their R&D knowledge into productivity gains? Our paper tries to answer these questions analyzing - in the European context - if R&D performing companies cluster themselves in “higher-order R&D regions”, as the Economic Geography theories postulate, inducing a polarisation in terms of labour productivity in comparison with firms located in “lower-order R&D regions”. The proposed microeconometric estimates are based on a unique longitudinal database of publicly-traded companies belonging to manufacturing and service sectors. The final unbalanced sample comprises 626 European companies for a total of 3,431observations, covering the period 1990-2008. Results show that European “higher-order R&D regions” not only invest more in R&D, but also achieve more in terms of productivity gains from their own research activities. Results also show that in the case of “lower-order R&D regions”, physical capital stock is still playing a dominant role.

Using a panel of 211 Italian manufacturing firms for 1995–2001 and the Least Squares Dummy Variable Corrected (LSDVC) estimator recently discussed in the econometric literature, it is shown that demand-pull innovation is particularly significant in liquidity-constrained companies in both the short run and long run.