IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa12p423.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

From creativity to innovativeness: micro evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto Antonietti

Abstract

In this paper I assess the existence, and the magnitude, of technological externalities in the form of creativity spillovers that affect individual firms' innovative intensity. Relying on a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms, I first estimate a knowledge production function through a zero-inflated beta regression model and a generalized Tobit model. From these, I extract the residuals, which represent the unexplained part of the actual observed share of innovative sales, namely innovativeness. Then, I regress such a measure of firm innovativeness on a set of occupation-based, as well as density-based, indicators of creativity at the NUTS3 level, while controlling for firm localization, size and industry. I also control for endogeneity and non-linearity by estimating a two-stage least squares model and a generalized additive model respectively. My estimates show that: (i) there is a positive and highly statistically significant effect of creativity on innovativeness; (ii) the effect of creativity on actual innovative sales is weak, while I find a stronger effect played by the availability of R&D labour within the firm; (iii) occupation-based measures of creativity outperform education-based measures of human capital; (iv) when controlling for the education content of jobs, firms' innovativeness is affected more by the local availability of non-graduated creative workers than of graduated ones; (v) rather, relying on NUTS3 regional data, I find that a higher local availability of graduated creative workers affects the invention intensity of a city; (vi) the relationship between firm innovativeness and the local density of creative people is U-shaped, so that proximity-based knowledge externalities emerge only after a certain density threshold is reached, this occurring typically in larger urban areas, typically hosting design and service-based creative industries. From the policy point of view, increasing the availability of creative jobs and people can help regions and cities to be more innovative, especially in the absence of large R&D departments and formal agreements with external partners. In this respect, my results are in line with the literature on innovative milieux, where social learning phenomena, rather than formal R&D activities, help explaining the processes of knowledge creation and diffusion within and between firms, clusters and territories. Keywords: creativity; innovativeness; innovative sales; knowledge production function; proportions JEL: L60; O31; R10 Please do consider the paper for these two alternative Special Sessions: ZS. SS and ZC.SS

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Antonietti, 2012. "From creativity to innovativeness: micro evidence from Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa12p423, European Regional Science Association.
  • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p423
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa12/e120821aFinal00425.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Using Innovation Surveys for Econometric Analysis," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1129-1155, Elsevier.
    2. Pierre Mohnen & Jacques Mairesse & Marcel Dagenais, 2006. "Innovativity: A comparison across seven European countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4-5), pages 391-413.
    3. Sam Youl Lee & Richard Florida & Zoltan J. Acs, 2008. "Creativity and Entrepreneurship: A Regional Analysis of New Firm Formation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 13, pages 171-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Crepon, B. & Duguet, E. & Mairesse, J., 1998. "Research Investment, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 98.15, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    5. Ron A. Boschma & Michael Fritsch, 2009. "Creative Class and Regional Growth: Empirical Evidence from Seven European Countries," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(4), pages 391-423, October.
    6. Charlotta Mellander & Richard Florida, 2011. "Creativity, talent, and regional wages in Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 637-660, June.
    7. Daria Ciriaci, 2011. "Design and European firms innovative performance: A less costly innovation activity for European SMEs?," JRC Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2011-08, Joint Research Centre.
    8. David Emanuel Andersson & Åke E. Andersson & Charlotta Mellander (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of Creative Cities," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13973.
    9. Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), 2010. "The Handbook of Innovation and Services," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12872.
    10. Glaeser, Edward L., 1999. "Learning in Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 254-277, September.
    11. Gerard Marlet & Clemens van Woerkens, 2007. "The Dutch Creative Class and How it Fosters Urban Employment Growth," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(13), pages 2605-2626, December.
    12. Cragg, John G, 1971. "Some Statistical Models for Limited Dependent Variables with Application to the Demand for Durable Goods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(5), pages 829-844, September.
    13. David Mcgranahan & Timothy Wojan, 2007. "Recasting the Creative Class to Examine Growth Processes in Rural and Urban Counties," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 197-216.
    14. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2011. "Education or just Creativity: what matters most for economic performance?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p199, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Carlino, Gerald A. & Chatterjee, Satyajit & Hunt, Robert M., 2007. "Urban density and the rate of invention," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 389-419, May.
    16. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    17. Richard Florida & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick, 2008. "Inside the black box of regional development: human capital, the creative class and tolerance," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 615-649, September.
    18. Enrico Moretti, 2004. "Workers' Education, Spillovers, and Productivity: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 656-690, June.
    19. Ian Miles & Lawrence Green, 2010. "Innovation and Creative Services," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), The Handbook of Innovation and Services, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2012. "Education or Creativity: What Matters Most for Economic Performance?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(4), pages 369-401, October.
    21. Loof, Hans & Heshmati, Almas, 2002. "Knowledge capital and performance heterogeneity: : A firm-level innovation study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 61-85, March.
    22. Patrick Cohendet & David Grandadam & Laurent Simon, 2010. "The Anatomy of the Creative City," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 91-111.
    23. Bruno Crepon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation And Productivity: An Econometric Analysis At The Firm Level," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 115-158.
    24. Black, Sandra E & Lynch, Lisa M, 1996. "Human-Capital Investments and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 263-267, May.
    25. Rowland Atkinson & Hazel Easthope, 2009. "The Consequences of the Creative Class: The Pursuit of Creativity Strategies in Australia's Cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 64-79, March.
    26. Jacques Mairesse & Pierre Mohnen, 2002. "Accounting for Innovation and Measuring Innovativeness: An Illustrative Framework and an Application," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 226-230, May.
    27. Cook, Douglas O. & Kieschnick, Robert & McCullough, B.D., 2008. "Regression analysis of proportions in finance with self selection," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 860-867, December.
    28. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Issues in Assessing the Contribution of Research and Development to Productivity Growth," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 17-45, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Jacques Mairesse & Pierre Mohnen, 2001. "To Be or Not To Be Innovative: An Exercise in Measurement," NBER Working Papers 8644, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Wojan, Timothy R. & McGranahan, David A., 2007. "Ambient Returns: Creative Capital's Contribution to Local Manufacturing Competitiveness," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-16, April.
    31. Andrea Conte, 2009. "Mapping innovative activity using microdata," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(18), pages 1795-1799.
    32. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Human capital externalities in cities," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 51, pages 2243-2291, Elsevier.
    33. Ann Markusen, 2006. "Urban Development and the Politics of a Creative Class: Evidence from a Study of Artists," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(10), pages 1921-1940, October.
    34. Nathan, Max, 2007. "The Wrong Stuff? Creative Class Theory and Economic Performance in UK Cities," MPRA Paper 29486, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    35. Zephyr, 2010. "The city," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 154-155, February.
    36. Enrico E. Bertacchini & Paola Borrione, 2013. "The Geography of the Italian Creative Economy: The Special Role of the Design and Craft-based Industries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 135-147, February.
    37. repec:crs:wpaper:9833 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Jamie Peck, 2005. "Struggling with the Creative Class," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 740-770, December.
    39. Johansson, Börje & Lööf, Hans, 2009. "Innovation, R&D and Productivity - assessing alternative specifications of CDM-models," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 159, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    40. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    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. Roberto Antonietti, 2015. "Does Local Creative Employment Affect Firm Innovativeness? Microeconometric Evidence from Italy," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3), pages 5-29.
    2. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2011. "Education or just Creativity: what matters most for economic performance?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p199, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2013. "Regional Development and Creativity," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 36(3), pages 354-391, July.
    4. Aurélie LALANNE & Guillaume POUYANNE, 2012. "Ten years of metropolization in economics: a bibliometric approach (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    5. Brunow, Stephan & Birkeneder, Antonia & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2018. "Creative and science-oriented employees and firm-level innovation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87588, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Brunow, Stephan & Birkeneder, Antonia & Rodriguez-Pose, Andrés, 2017. "Creative and science oriented employees and firm innovation : a key for smarter cities?," IAB-Discussion Paper 201724, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. Eckhardt Bode & Lucia Perez Villar, 2017. "Creativity, education or what? On the measurement of regional human capital," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96, pages 51-67, March.
    8. Richard Florida & Charlotta Mellander & Patrick Adler, 2011. "The Creative Class Paradigm," Chapters, in: David Emanuel Andersson & Åke E. Andersson & Charlotta Mellander (ed.), Handbook of Creative Cities, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Silvia Cerisola & Elisa Panzera, 2021. "Cultural and Creative Cities and Regional Economic Efficiency: Context Conditions as Catalyzers of Cultural Vibrancy and Creative Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.
    10. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    11. Baumann, Julian & Kritikos, Alexander S., 2016. "The link between R&D, innovation and productivity: Are micro firms different?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1263-1274.
    12. Richard Florida, 2014. "The Creative Class and Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 28(3), pages 196-205, August.
    13. Roberto Antonietti & Gildo Soggia, 2015. "La formula dell?export per le province italiane: classe creativa + specializzazione manifatturiera," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 125-143.
    14. Francisco De Lima Cavalcanti & Raul Da Mota Silveira Neto, 2016. "Creative Class, Human Capital And Urban Dynamism: Empirical Evidence For The Brazilian Cities," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 160, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    15. Bettina Peters & Rebecca Riley & Iulia Siedschlag & Priit Vahter & John McQuinn, 2018. "Internationalisation, innovation and productivity in services: evidence from Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(3), pages 585-615, August.
    16. Gabriele Pellegrino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "How do new entrepreneurs innovate?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(3), pages 323-341, September.
    17. Michael Fritsch & Michael Stützer, 2012. "The Geography of Creative People in Germany revisited," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-065, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    18. Paola Cardamone, 2018. "Firm innovation and spillovers in Italy: Does geographical proximity matter?," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Alden Porter & Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, 2016. "Physical capital mobility, the educational and quality aspects of creative capital, and output production," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(4), pages 167-175, November.
    20. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Young firms and innovation: A microeconometric analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 329-340.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    creativity; innovativeness; innovative sales; knowledge production function; proportions jel: l60; o31; r10 please do consider the paper for these two alternative special sessions: zs. ss and zc.ss;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - 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:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa12p423. 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: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    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.