Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Productivity and the international firm: dissecting heterogeneity

Contents:

Author Info

  • Davide Castellani
  • Giorgia Giovannetti

Abstract

Higher productivity of multinational firms and exporters has been widely documented in the literature, but the sources of this heterogeneity are still a black box. Using an original dataset on Italian firms, we show that higher total factor productivity of international firms can be to some extent explained by higher R&D intensity and managerial capabilities. However, our results suggest that heterogeneity is more in the slope than in the constant of the production function. In particular, allowing international firms to have different return to labour and capital inputs, we are able to account for their entire productivity premium. This has implications for both labour and capital market reforms.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/17487870903546226&magic=repec&7C&7C8674ECAB8BB840C6AD35DC6213A474B5
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Journal of Economic Policy Reform.

Volume (Year): 13 (2010)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 25-42

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:taf:jecprf:v:13:y:2010:i:1:p:25-42

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713648069~db=all

Order Information:
Web: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/subscription.asp

Related research

Keywords: total factor productivity; firm heterogeneity; exporters; multinational firms;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2003. "Revisiting Some Productivity Debates," NBER Working Papers 10065, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2008. "The Sensitivity of Productivity Estimates," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 26, pages 311-328.
  3. Davide Castellani & Antonello Zanfei, 2007. "Internationalisation, Innovation and Productivity: How Do Firms Differ in Italy?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 156-176, 01.
  4. Bloom, Nicholas & Sadun, Raffaella & Van Reenen, John, 2007. "Americans Do I.T. Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle," CEPR Discussion Papers 6291, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, And The Demand For Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376, February.
  6. Criscuolo, Chiara & Ralf Martin, 2003. "Multinationals, foreign ownership and US productivity leadership: Evidence from the UK," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 50, Royal Economic Society.
  7. Lisa M Lynch & Sandra E Black, 2002. "How to Compete: The Impact of Workplace Practices and Information Technology on Productivity," Working Papers 02-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
  8. Paolo Angelini & Andrea Generale, 2008. "On the Evolution of Firm Size Distributions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 426-38, March.
  9. Markusen, James R., 2002. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MPRA Paper 8380, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  10. Nick Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2006. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," NBER Working Papers 12216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Yeaple, Stephen Ross, 2005. "A simple model of firm heterogeneity, international trade, and wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 1-20, January.
  12. Robert E. Baldwin & Robert E. Lipsey & J. David Richards, 1998. "Geography and Ownership as Bases for Economic Accounting," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bald98-1.
  13. Davide Castellani, 2002. "Export behavior and productivity growth: Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 138(4), pages 605-628, December.
  14. Thomas J. Holmes & David K. Levine & James A. Schmitz, Jr., 2008. "Monopoly and the incentive to innovate when adoption involves switchover disruptions," Staff Report 402, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  15. Bronwyn H. Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2008. "Innovation and Productivity in SMEs: Empirical Evidence for Italy," NBER Working Papers 14594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  16. James A. Schmitz, Jr., 2005. "What determines productivity? lessons from the dramatic recovery of the U.S. and Canadian iron-ore industries following their early 1980s crisis," Staff Report 286, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
  17. GIRMA, Sourafel & GÔRG, Holger & STROBL, Eric, 2004. "Exports, international investment, and plant performance : evidence from a non-parametric test," CORE Discussion Papers 2004009, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  18. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2004. "Robustness of Productivity Estimates," NBER Working Papers 10303, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  19. Brynjolfsson, Erik & Hitt, Lorin M., 2004. "Computing Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence," Working papers 4210-01, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
  20. Arnold, JM & Hussinger, Katrin, 2005. "Export versus FDI in german manufacturing: firm performance and participation in International markets," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/122310, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
  21. Roberto Basile & Anna Giunta & Jeffrey B. Nugent, 2003. "Foreign Expansion by Italian Manufacturing Firms in the Nineties: an Ordered Probit Analysis," Industrial Organization 0312001, EconWPA.
  22. Annamaria Nese & Niall O’Higgins, 2007. "Attrition bias in the Capitalia panel," International Review of Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 383-403, September.
  23. Sourafel Girma & Richard Kneller & Mauro Pisu, 2005. "Exports versus FDI: An Empirical Test," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 193-218, July.
  24. Yeaple, Stephen & Helpman, Elhanan & Melitz, Marc, 2004. "Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," Scholarly Articles 3229098, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  25. David Greenaway & Richard Kneller, 2007. "Firm heterogeneity, exporting and foreign direct investment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages F134-F161, 02.
  26. Thierry Mayer & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2008. "The Happy Few: The Internationalisation of European Firms," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 135-148, May.
  27. Mark E. Doms & J . Bradford Jensen, 1998. "Comparing Wages, Skills, and Productivity between Domestically and Foreign-Owned Manufacturing Establishments in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Geography and Ownership as Bases for Economic Accounting, pages 235-258 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Péter Harasztosi, 2011. "Growth in Hungary 1994-2008: The role of capital, labour, productivity and reallocation," MNB Working Papers 2011/12, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the central bank of Hungary).
  2. Giulio Cainelli & Eleonora Di Maria & Roberto Ganau, 2011. "Agglomeration, related-variety and internationalisation. Does a relationship exist?," Openloc Working Papers 1114, Public policies and local development.
  3. Giorgia Giovannetti & Giorgio Ricchiuti & Margherita Velucchi, 2010. "Heterogeneity in Managerial Strategies and Internationalization of Firms: the case of Italy," Working Papers Series wp2010_04.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Economia e Dell'Impresa.
  4. Valter Di Giacinto & Matteo Gomellini & Giacinto Micucci & Marcello Pagnini, 2012. "Mapping local productivity advantages in Italy: industrial districts, cities or both?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 850, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
  5. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2010. "Firm heterogeneity, international cooperations and export participation," MPRA Paper 27585, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Annamaria Nifo & Domenico Scalera, 2011. "Structural Changes in Italian Industry: The Impact of Crisis. A Comment on the Book Edited by Laura Rondi and Francesco Silva," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 2, June.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecprf:v:13:y:2010:i:1:p:25-42

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Michael McNulty).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.