IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wip/wpaper/73.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

COVID-19, Innovative Firms and Resilience

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Battisti
  • Filippo Belloc
  • Massimo Del Gatto

Abstract

This paper explores the empirical association between patents and various indicators of firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic with worldwide firm-level data from manufacturing industries. The study shows that patent-intensive firms have a reduced probability of exit, in particular if they are larger and if engaging with complementary investments in R&D and other intangibles. Additional estimates show that firm productivity has been an important transmission channel. Taken together, the results presented in the paper offer evidence-based findings pointing to patents as an important potential factor contributing to firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy insights are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2023. "COVID-19, Innovative Firms and Resilience," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 73, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
  • Handle: RePEc:wip:wpaper:73
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-econstat-wp-73-en-covid-19-innovative-firms-and-resilience.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert W. Fairlie, 2020. "The Impact of Covid-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions," CESifo Working Paper Series 8581, CESifo.
    2. Chad Syverson, 2011. "What Determines Productivity?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 326-365, June.
    3. Arora, Ashish & Cohen, Wesley & Lee, Honggi & Sebastian, Divya, 2023. "Invention value, inventive capability and the large firm advantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    4. Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2015. "Unbundling Technology Adoption and tfp at the Firm Level: Do Intangibles Matter?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 390-414, June.
    5. Steven Klepper & Kenneth L. Simons, 2000. "The Making of an Oligopoly: Firm Survival and Technological Change in the Evolution of the U.S. Tire Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 728-760, August.
    6. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    7. Dixit, Avinash K, 1989. "Entry and Exit Decisions under Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 620-638, June.
    8. Robert Fairlie & Frank M. Fossen & Reid Johnsen & Gentian Droboniku, 2023. "Were small businesses more likely to permanently close in the pandemic?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1613-1629, April.
    9. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1996. "A Reprise of Size and R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 925-951, July.
    10. Po-Hsuan Hsu & Hsiao-Hui Lee & Shu-Cing Peng & Long Yi, 2018. "Natural Disasters, Technology Diversity, and Operating Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 619-630, October.
    11. Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2020. "COVID-19 Is Also a Reallocation Shock," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 329-383.
    12. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    13. Colombo, Massimo G. & Delmastro, Marco, 2001. "Technology use and plant closure1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 21-34, January.
    14. Yun Liu & Yifei Zhang & Heyang Fang & Xin Chen, 2022. "SMEs’ line of credit under the COVID-19: evidence from China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 807-828, February.
    15. Giuseppe Fiori & Filippo Scoccianti, 2021. "Aggregate dynamics and microeconomic heterogeneity: the role of vintage technology," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 651, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    16. Chad Syverson, 2004. "Product Substitutability and Productivity Dispersion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 534-550, May.
    17. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    18. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    19. Elena Cefis & Orietta Marsili, 2019. "Good times, bad times: innovation and survival over the business cycle," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(3), pages 565-587.
    20. Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Yulia Zhestkova, 2021. "COVID-19 Shifted Patent Applications toward Technologies That Support Working from Home," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 263-266, May.
    21. Massimo Del Gatto & Adriana Di Liberto & Carmelo Petraglia, 2011. "Measuring Productivity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 952-1008, December.
    22. Capucine Riom & Anna Valero, 2020. "The business response to Covid-19: the CEP-CBI survey on technology adoption," CEP Covid-19 Analyses cepcovid-19-009, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    23. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    24. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2009. "On estimating firm-level production functions using proxy variables to control for unobservables," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 112-114, September.
    25. Doms, Mark & Dunne, Timothy & Roberts, Mark J., 1995. "The role of technology use in the survival and growth of manufacturing plants," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 523-542, December.
    26. Rajshree Agarwal & David B. Audretsch, 2001. "Does Entry Size Matter? The Impact of the Life Cycle and Technology on Firm Survival," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 21-43, March.
    27. Luis Pedauga & Francisco Sáez & Blanca L. Delgado-Márquez, 2022. "Macroeconomic lockdown and SMEs: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 665-688, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2020. "Labor Productivity and Firm-Level TFP with Technology-Specific Production Function," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 283-300, January.
    2. Kaus, Wolfhard & Slavtchev, Viktor & Zimmermann, Markus, 2020. "Intangible capital and productivity: Firm-level evidence from German manufacturing," IWH Discussion Papers 1/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    3. Ryan A. Decker & John C. Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2018. "Changing Business Dynamism and Productivity: Shocks vs. Responsiveness," NBER Working Papers 24236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2020. "Labor Productivity and Firm-Level TFP with Technology-Specific Production Function," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 283-300, January.
    5. Axel Demenet, 2016. "Does Managerial Capital also Matter Among Micro and Small Firms in Developing Countries?," Working Papers DT/2016/12, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Axel Demenet & Quynh Hoang, 2018. "How important are management practices for the productivity of small and medium enterprises?," WIDER Working Paper Series 69, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Singer, Gregor, 2024. "Complementary inputs and industrial development: can lower electricity prices improve energy efficiency?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122365, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Dobbelaere, Sabien & Kiyota, Kozo & Mairesse, Jacques, 2015. "Product and labor market imperfections and scale economies: Micro-evidence on France, Japan and the Netherlands," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 290-322.
    9. M. Battisti & F. Belloc & M. Del Gatto, 2017. "Technology-specific Production Functions," Working Paper CRENoS 201709, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    10. Douglas Gollin & Christopher Udry, 2021. "Heterogeneity, Measurement Error, and Misallocation: Evidence from African Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(1), pages 1-80.
    11. Alistair Dieppe, 2021. "Global Productivity," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 34015.
    12. Marco Bee & Julien Hambuckers, 2020. "Modeling multivariate operational losses via copula-based distributions with g-and-h marginals," DEM Working Papers 2020/3, Department of Economics and Management.
    13. Stiebale, Joel & Vencappa, Dev, 2018. "Acquisitions, markups, efficiency, and product quality: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 70-87.
    14. Lucia S. Foster & Cheryl A. Grim & John Haltiwanger & Zoltan Wolf, 2017. "Macro and Micro Dynamics of Productivity: From Devilish Details to Insights," NBER Working Papers 23666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Klaus Friesenbichler & Agnes Kügler & Julia Schieber-Knöbl, 2023. "Intangible Capital as a Production Factor. Firm-level Evidence from Austrian Microdata," WIFO Working Papers 660, WIFO.
    16. G. Jacob Blackwood & Lucia S. Foster & Cheryl A. Grim & John Haltiwanger & Zoltan Wolf, 2021. "Macro and Micro Dynamics of Productivity: From Devilish Details to Insights," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 142-172, July.
    17. Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Santoni, 2015. "Firm Level Allocative Inefficiency: Evidence from France," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01299818, HAL.
    18. Stiebale, Joel & Vencappa, Dev, 2022. "Import competition and vertical integration: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    19. Lovo,Stefania & Varela,Gonzalo J., 2020. "Internationally Linked Firms, Integration Reforms and Productivity : Evidence from Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9349, The World Bank.
    20. Segundo Camino‐Mogro & Natalia Bermudez‐Barrezueta, 2021. "Productivity determinants in the construction sector in emerging country: New evidence from Ecuadorian firms," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2391-2413, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm resilience; patents; productivity; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wip:wpaper:73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Economics and Statistics Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ewipoch.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.