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Technological Adoption with Imperfect Markets in the Italian Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Saltari Enrico

    (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”)

  • Wymer Clifford R.

    (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”)

  • Federici Daniela

    (Università degli studi di Cassino)

  • Giannetti Marilena

    (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”)

Abstract

The last twenty years have seen a marked slowdown of the Italian productivity growth rate. The literature has underlined the role of international factors, such as globalization and adoption of the euro. In this paper we emphasize the role and dynamics of capital accumulation investigating the impact of the introduction of information technology on capital and production in the Italian economy and the extent to which that is being affected by skills in the labour force.The model is specified and estimated as continuous-time general disequilibrium framework. It presents original features: it analyzes the effects of the introduction of the ICT technology on the Italian economy not in a partial equilibrium context of a single market but from a macro point of view where input markets interact; it does not assume that these markets instantaneously clear but rather that there are imperfections and frictions; it does not impose the condition that the economy necessarily converges to a steady state. The model behaves quite well in replicating the dynamics of the Italian economy. It also shows however that there remains some structural inefficiency that worsened in recent years. In fact, our main finding shows that there exists a permanent gap between “optimal” and actual output which increased in the latter part of the sample period. While a fraction of this gap can be attributed to unavoidable (market and non market) adjustment costs some is associated to efficiency losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Saltari Enrico & Wymer Clifford R. & Federici Daniela & Giannetti Marilena, 2012. "Technological Adoption with Imperfect Markets in the Italian Economy," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-30, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:sndecm:v:16:y:2012:i:2:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/1558-3708.1934
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    Cited by:

    1. Giuseppe Travaglini & Alessandro Bellocchi, 2018. "How supply and demand shocks affect productivity and unemployment growth: evidence from OECD countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 955-979, December.
    2. Wymer Clifford R., 2012. "Continuous-Tme Econometrics of Structural Models," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(2), pages 1-28, April.
    3. Saltari, Enrico & Federici, Daniela, 2014. "Elasticity of substitution and the slowdown of the Italian productivity," MPRA Paper 58422, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Federici, Daniela & Saltari, Enrico, 2018. "Elasticity Of Substitution And Technical Progress: Is There A Misspecification Problem?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 101-121, January.
    5. Wymer, Clifford R. & Saltari, Enrico & Federici, Daniela, 2019. "Endogenizing The Ict Sector: A Multisector Approach," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(S1), pages 25-58, September.
    6. Marianna Belloc & Paolo Guerrieri, 2015. "Impact of ICT diffusion and adoption on sectoral industrial performance: evidence from a panel of European countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 32(1), pages 67-84, April.
    7. Daniela Federici & Enrico Saltari, 2016. "Elasticity of substitution and the stagnation of Italian productivity," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 503-515, July.
    8. Saltari, Enrico & Wymer, Clifford R. & Federici, Daniela, 2013. "The impact of ICT and business services on the Italian economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 110-118.
    9. Marco Di Pietro & Enrico Saltari, 2018. "Economic Fluctuations in the U.S. and Euro Area: Quantifying the Contribution of Technical Change," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 203-216, July.
    10. Enrico Saltari, 2012. "The role of ICT and Business Services in Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 152, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.

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