THE NEW GROWTH THEORIES AND THEIR EMPIRICS, Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Glasgow, N. 2005-04 (http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Economics

The aim of this paper is to update the reviews on endogenous growth theories in order to explore whether recent empirical studies are more supportive of their main predictions. Among the core topics studied in the growth econometric framework, namely, convergence, identifications of growth determinants and factors responsible of growth differences in the data, the primary focus of this paper is on the last two. Since the use of econometrics was originally motivated by convergence issues, in this work we will review econometric studies that test primarily the relevance of endogenous models in terms of significance and robustness of growth’s determinant coefficients. We argue that: (i) causal inference drawn from the empirical growth literature remains highly questionable, ii) there are estimates for a wide range of potential factors but their magnitude and robustness are still under debate. Overall, however, if properly interpreted, endogenous growth models' predictions are increasingly gaining empirical support.endogenous growth, growth regressions, convergence

The New Growth Theoris and their Empirics

The aim of this paper is to update the reviews on endogenous growth theories in order to explore whether recent empirical studies are more supportive of their main predictions. Among the core topics studied in the growth econometric framework, namely, convergence, identifications of growth determinants and factors responsible of growth differences in the data, the primary focus of this paper is on the last two. Since the use of econometrics was originally motivated by convergence issues, in this work we will review econometric studies that test primarily the relevance of endogenous models in terms of significance and robustness of growth’s determinant coefficients. We argue that: (i) causal inference drawn from the empirical growth literature remains highly questionable, ii) there are estimates for a wide range of potential factors but their magnitude and robustness are still under debate. Overall, however, if properly interpreted, endogenous growth models' predictions are increasingly gaining empirical support.

Openness and Growth in Central-Eastern European Countries

We present evidence of the relationship between trade-openness and growth in the sample of former communist countries before and after the transition from a central planned economy (CPE) to a market economy by applying standard OLS and panel estimation techniques. The main finding is that during the transition the importance of openness on growth per capita has increased sharply by changing the coefficient from a negative sign to a positive and significant one. The result seems to be robust to (i) estimation methods , (ii) different measures of openness adopted and (iii)consistent with the integration view, which states that a higher degree of trade openness spurred by market incentives and comparative advantages enhances the per capita growth rate of economies.economic growth, transition economies, trade openness

Indici di sviluppo finanziario e crescita: l'evidenza sull'Italia

In questo lavoro si investiga il nesso finanza-crescita aggregata in Italia nel periodo 1965-2002. Dopo una breve rassegna della letteratura teorico-empirica, il lavoro riporta i risultati di una indagine basata su regressioni di crescita in cui fattori come il tasso di investimento, il grado di apertura dell'economia e il capitale umano vengono utilizzati come variabili di controllo per stimare gli effetti di alcuni indici di intermediazione finanziaria e dei mercati azionari e il loro impatto congiunto sul tasso di crescita del reddito per lavoratore dell'economia italiana. Il principale risultato dell'esercizio basato su serie temporali e' che le variabili finanziarie, ad eccezione di Bank, non esercitano un effetto significativo sul tasso di crescita dell'economia italiana che risulta dipendere essenzialmente da fattori reali. Viene fatto, inoltre, un primo passo sul fronte del rapporto di causalita' tra le variabili di interessecrescita; struttura finanziaria; regressioni di crescita

Offshoring, Extent of the Shadow Economy and Firm Performance. Evidence from Italy

Being the G-7 country with the largest shadow-economy share, we posit that Italy's manufacturing firms - to counter emerging economies' competition - could alternatively offshore or enter the shadow economy. Within this context, we investigate, in a sample of Italian firms, whether internationalised firms outperform purely domestic firms in terms of efficiency, innovativeness and skill composition. Using propensity-score-matching and difference-in-difference techniques we find evidence that: (i) offshoring impacts TFP negligibly but, (ii) labour cost relocation robustly causes offshoring; (iii) offshoring firms are more likely innovative and R&D-oriented; (iv) firms in high- shadow -economy provinces less likely offshore. It is also evidenced that the latter firms show lower TFP and R&D expenditure.trade integration; offshoring; empirics of global sourcing; shadow economy

Export Status and Performance in a Panel of Italian Manufacturing Firms

Following a growing literature we test, in this paper, the two alternative hypotheses of self selection and learning by exporting across different Italian manufacturing firms. Using matched sampling techniques, we estimate whether new export-oriented firms are more efficient than domestically-oriented firms on the basis of three Italian representative Surveys of manufacturing firms covering consecutive triennial periods (1995-2003). Our findings indicate that export entrants improve their productivity in the first period after entry. This occurs for both total factor productivity (TFP) and labour productivity growth rates. These results are consistent with those found in the existing literature for many countries. The only lasting significant effect that we find among the different measures of performances is that new exporters earn higher profits than their domestic counterparts.international trade; Export-led growth; productivity; matched techniques

Il finanziamento dello sviluppo: Teorie ed evidenza empirica

The relationship between financial development and economic growth has received enormous attention in the economic literature of the last decade. The widely accepted consensus finding is that financial development has a positive effect on growth at either aggregate, or industry or firm levels. This paper aims at providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical findings. Specifically, we focus on the contribution of the Italian economists since the Seventies and point out how the finance-growth nexus was present in their research agenda. Their contributions are reviewed vis-Ã -vis the new researches trying eventually to elucidate what financial structure, banks or markets, is more conducive to the economic growth of Italian and European economies. We argue that the contribution of these Italian economists laid out already clear the main problems tackled by the recent mainstream literature.financial development; economic growth

Entry-Mode Selection and Firm’s Productivity across Market Destinations: An Empirical Investigation

This work aims at investigating the productivity premia of three alternative modes of internationalization for a panel of Italian manufacturing firms: FDI, international outsourcing, and exporting. By using simple regression tests we try to investigate whether and to what extent these modes of firm‘s entry into the foreign markets increase the productivity of firms at home. Surprisingly, our findings show that firms that self-select in engaging in exporting have the greatest productivity gains. The findings hold true even when we extend the analysis to geographical country penetrations

Abdominal drainage after elective colorectal surgery: propensity score-matched retrospective analysis of an Italian cohort

background: In italy, surgeons continue to drain the abdominal cavity in more than 50 per cent of patients after colorectal resection. the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of abdominal drain placement on early adverse events in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. methods: a database was retrospectively analysed through a 1:1 propensity score-matching model including 21 covariates. the primary endpoint was the postoperative duration of stay, and the secondary endpoints were surgical site infections, infectious morbidity rate defined as surgical site infections plus pulmonary infections plus urinary infections, anastomotic leakage, overall morbidity rate, major morbidity rate, reoperation and mortality rates. the results of multiple logistic regression analyses were presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95 per cent c.i. results: a total of 6157 patients were analysed to produce two well-balanced groups of 1802 patients: group (A), no abdominal drain(s) and group (B), abdominal drain(s). group a versus group B showed a significantly lower risk of postoperative duration of stay >6 days (OR 0.60; 95 per cent c.i. 0.51-0.70; P < 0.001). a mean postoperative duration of stay difference of 0.86 days was detected between groups. no difference was recorded between the two groups for all the other endpoints. conclusion: this study confirms that placement of abdominal drain(s) after elective colorectal surgery is associated with a non-clinically significant longer (0.86 days) postoperative duration of stay but has no impact on any other secondary outcomes, confirming that abdominal drains should not be used routinely in colorectal surgery