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Boosting Manufacturing Productivity Through R&D: International Comparisons with Special Focus on Italy

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  • Alessandro STERLACCHINI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Management ed Organizzazione Aziendale)

  • Francesco VENTURINI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

Abstract

Using data for twelve manufacturing industries of five developed countries over the period 1980-2002, we perform a dynamic panel estimation - based on a ECM model - of the long-run elasticity of TFP with respect to the stock of R&D capital. The highest elasticity is found for the US (0.51) while lower values arise for Germany (0.29), France (0.23) and Spain (0.22); the latter, in turn, are higher than that estimated for Italy (0.14). The unsatisfactory performance of Italian manufacturing industries is confirmed by further analyses in which a better measurement of TFP is provided and the time period extended. The above findings and their policy implications are discussed firstly in the light of the US-EU divide in terms of R&D-induced productivity growth and, subsequently, by focussing on the Italian case.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro STERLACCHINI & Francesco VENTURINI, 2007. "Boosting Manufacturing Productivity Through R&D: International Comparisons with Special Focus on Italy," Working Papers 306, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:306
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    Cited by:

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    2. Esposti, Roberto, 2008. "Why Should Regional Agricultural Productivity Growth Converge? Evidence from Italian Regions," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43955, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Demetris Vrontis & Giuseppe Tardivo & Stefano Bresciani & Milena Viassone, 2018. "The Competitiveness of the Italian Manufacturing Industry: an Attempt of Measurement," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(4), pages 1087-1103, December.
    4. Armando Garcia Pires, 2014. "Beyond Trade Costs: Firms’ Endogenous Access to International Markets," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 229-257, June.
    5. Alessandro Sterlacchini, 2017. "The intensity of business R&D in Italy: why reducing the gap with the EU is possible and worthwhile," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(2), pages 245-257, June.
    6. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Marin, Giovanni & Perugini, Francesco, 2021. "Labour flexibility, internal migration and productivity in Italian regions," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 308-320.
    7. Fabio FIORILLO & Agnese SACCHI, 2010. "I Want to Free-ride. An Opportunistic View on Decentralization Versus Centralization Problem," Working Papers 346, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    8. Elena AMBROSETTI & Eralba CELA & Tineke FOKKEMA, 2011. "The Remittances Behaviour of the Second Generation in Europe: Altruism or Self-Interest?," Working Papers 368, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    9. Alessandro Sterlacchini & Francesco Venturini, 2014. "R&D and Productivity in High-Tech Manufacturing: A Comparison between Italy and Spain," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 359-379, July.
    10. Ugo FRATESI, 2010. "The National and International Effects;of Regional Policy Choices: Agglomeration Economies, Peripherality and Territorial Characteristics," Working Papers 344, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    11. Francesco VENTURINI, 2008. "Information Technology, Research & Development, or Both? What Really Drives A Nation's Productivity," Working Papers 321, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    12. Neil Foster-McGregor & Johannes Pöschl & Ana Rincon-Aznar & Robert Stehrer & Michaela Vecchi & Francesco Venturini, 2014. "Reducing Productivity and Efficiency Gaps: the Role of Knowledge Assets, Absorptive Capacity and Institutions," wiiw Research Reports 396, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    13. Nicola Matteucci & Paolo Seri, 2012. "Crisi e declino nella manifattura italiana: note per l?agenda di ricerca e la politica industriale," PRISMA Economia - Societ? - Lavoro, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2012(3), pages 148-160.
    14. Luca RICCETTI, 2010. "Minimum Tracking Error Volatility," Working Papers 340, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    15. Luca RICCETTI, 2011. "A Copula-GARCH Model for Macro Asset Allocation of a Portfolio with Commodities: an Out-of-Sample Analysis," Working Papers 355, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    16. Venturini, Francesco, 2015. "The modern drivers of productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 357-369.
    17. Pianta, Mario & Reljic, Jelena, 2021. "Employment quality, economic performance and wages in Europe. Exploring the virtuous circle," MPRA Paper 109797, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D capital stock; manufacturing industries; productivity growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

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