Building panels from archives: the longitudinal representativity

AbstractIn this paper, starting from ASIA business register and from the related Events Register, the longitudinally persistency of core units of the abovementioned database is examined. The M&A events are considered. To evaluate the representativity of the longitudinal panel obtained using the proposed approach, the dataset is integrated with the financial reports database with reference to some relevant economic variables. Italian financial reports database includes annual reports transmitted (according to the law) to the local Chamber of Commerce (CC) by all limited firms. The annual reports are collected and checked by CC. The database includes around 700,000 firm financial reports every year. It represents a very rich and complete source of information, therefore in this study it is used as reference target population. The complete set of data is compared both to panel based on the M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) events and to results related to a panel build up without reference to the M&A events. Comparative analyses are carried out for the representativeness of most important economic variables. Representativeness with respect to main economic variables is analyzed. Statistical analyses, broken down by specific categories, based mainly on R-indicators are performed

Turbulence underneath the big calm? Exploring the micro-evidence behind the flat trend of manufacturing productivity in Italy

Italy ranked last in terms of manufacturing productivity growth according to OECD estimates over the last decade with a flat, if not declining, trend. In this work we investigate the underlying firm-level dynamics of enterprises on the grounds of a database developed by the Italian Statistical Office (ISTAT) covering the period 1989-2004 and containing information on more than 100,000 firms. Over the period not only the indicators of central tendency of the distribution of labour productivities have not significantly changed, but also the whole sectoral distributions have remained relatively stable over time, with their support at least not shrinking or even possibly widening over time. This is even more surprising if one takes into consideration the 'Euro' shock that occurred during the period of investigation. On the contrary we observe that inter-decile differences in productivity have been increasing. Further, heterogeneous firms' characteristics (i.e. export activity and innovativeness) appear to have contributed to boost such intra-industry differences. Given such wide heterogeneities we resort to quantile regressions to identify the impact of a set of regressors at different levels of the conditional distribution of labor productivity. One phenomenon that we observe is what we call a tendency toward 'neo-dualism' involving the co-existence of a small group of dynamic firms with a bigger ensemble of much less technologically progressive ones.productivity; firm dynamics; market selection; trade; euro shock; quantile regressions

Analysing firm's evolution: discontinuity and growth

Typically, firms change their size through a row of discrete leaps over time. A very basic model allowing for discontinuous growth can be based on a couple of assumptions: (a) in the short run, the firm’s equipment and organization provide the maximum profit only for a given production level, and diverging form it is costly; and (b) in the long run, the firm adjusts its size as if the current equipment had to be exploited until overall profits exceed a given threshold and those expected from the new desired plant for the current production level. Combining the latter two hypotheses entails a number of testable consequences, usually regarded as nuisance facts according to the traditional theories. First of all, the profitability should not be a continuous function of the firms’ size, but exhibits a number of peaks, each corresponding to a different locally optimal size. Secondly, when demand is growing, investment are expected to increase just when profits falls shorter some given threshold. The model has been tested by using a panel of data on the size and performances of Italian manufacturing firms from 1998 to 2007. Indeed, both the non-parametric analysis and a panel estimation confirm the presence of several “peaks” in the distribution of profitability by size. Furthermore, a negative statistical relationship is apparent between investment and profitability, controlling for the size of firms.Capacity utilization; Discontinuity; Firm’s size; Growth; Investment; Non parametric smoothing; Panel regression; Profit function

Analisi dei modelli d’impresa: discontinuità e sviluppo

Typically, firms change their size through a row of discrete leaps over time. A very basic model allowing for discontinuous growth can be based on a couple of assumptions: (a) in the short run, the firm’s equipment and organization provide the maximum profit only for a given production level, and diverging form it is costly; and (b) in the long run, the firm adjusts its size as if the current equipment had to be exploited until overall profits exceed a given threshold and those expected from the new desired plant for the current production level. Combining the latter two hypotheses entails a number of testable consequences, usually regarded as nuisance facts according to the traditional theories. First of all, the profitability should not be a continuous function of the firms’ size, but exhibits a number of peaks, each corresponding to a different locally optimal size. Secondly, when demand is growing, investment are expected to increase just when profits falls shorter some given threshold. The model has been tested by using a panel of data on the size and performances of Italian manufacturing firms from 1998 to 2007. Indeed, both the non-parametric analysis and a panel estimation confirm the presence of several “peaks” in the distribution of profitability by size. Furthermore, a negative statistical relationship is apparent between investment and profitability, controlling for the size of firms

Analisi dei modelli d’impresa: discontinuità e sviluppo

Typically, firms change their size through a row of discrete leaps over time. A very basic model allowing for discontinuous growth can be based on a couple of assumptions: (a) in the short run, the firm’s equipment and organization provide the maximum profit only for a given production level, and diverging form it is costly; and (b) in the long run, the firm adjusts its size as if the current equipment had to be exploited until overall profits exceed a given threshold and those expected from the new desired plant for the current production level. Combining the latter two hypotheses entails a number of testable consequences, usually regarded as nuisance facts according to the traditional theories. First of all, the profitability should not be a continuous function of the firms’ size, but exhibits a number of peaks, each corresponding to a different locally optimal size. Secondly, when demand is growing, investment are expected to increase just when profits falls shorter some given threshold. The model has been tested by using a panel of data on the size and performances of Italian manufacturing firms from 1998 to 2007. Indeed, both the non-parametric analysis and a panel estimation confirm the presence of several “peaks” in the distribution of profitability by size. Furthermore, a negative statistical relationship is apparent between investment and profitability, controlling for the size of firms

Italian Manufacturing and Service Firms Labor Productivity: a Longitudinal Quantile Regression Analysis

Labor productivity is very complex to analyze across time, sectors and countries. In particular, in Italy, labor productivity has shown a prolonged slowdown but sector analyses highlight the presence of specific niches that have good levels of productivity and performance. This paper investigates how firms' characteristics might have affected the dynamics of the Italian service and manufacturing firms labor productivity in recent years (1998-2007), comparing them and focusing on some relevant sectors. We use a micro level original panel from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and a longitudinal quantile regression approach that allow us to show that labor productivity is highly heterogeneous across sectors and that the links between labor productivity and firms' characteristics are not constant across quantiles. We show that average estimates obtained via GLS do not capture the complex dynamics and heterogeneity of the service and manufacturing firms' labor productivity. Using this approach, we show that innovativeness and human capital, in particular, have a very strong impact on fostering labor productivity of lower productive firms. From the sector analysis on four service' sectors (restaurants & hotels, trade distributors, trade shops and legal & accountants) we show that heterogeneity is more intense at a sector level and we derive some common features that may be useful in terms of policy implications

The Contribution of ICT to Production Efficiency in Italy: Firm-Level Evidence Using Data Envelopment Analysis and Econometric Estimations

This paper examines the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on technical production efficiency in a wide range of Italian industries. Technical efficiency, defined as the firm’s distance from the production efficiency frontier, is one important component of productivity. Assessing the role of ICTs in the organisation and control of production processes may be of primary interest for those firms that are trying to rationalise their production organisation and techniques. The survey of firms examined, the Italian ISTAT SCI covering all firms with at least 20 employees, offers an opportunity to test the hypothesis that ICTs, in both hardware and software components, can positively influence production performance. The analysis is carried out within industries defined by the OECD STAN database, to ease international comparability of the empirical results. Technical efficiency of each individual firm is measured by means of data envelopment analysis, a ... La contribution des TIC à l'efficience de la production en Italie : Eléments au niveau de l'entreprise obtenus par analyse de l'enveloppement des données et estimations économétriques Ce rapport analyse l’incidence des technologies de l’information et des communications (TIC) sur l’efficience de la production technique dans un large éventail d’industries italiennes. L’efficience technique, définie comme l’éloignement de l’entreprise par rapport à la frontière de l’efficience de la production, est une composante importante de la productivité. L’évaluation du rôle des TIC dans l’organisation et le contrôle des processus de production peut être d’un intérêt majeur pour les enterprises qui s’efforcent de rationaliser leur organisation et leurs techniques de production. L’enquête auprès des entreprises sur laquelle porte l’étude, qui est l’enquête sur les comptes des entreprises (SCI) de l’ISTAT couvrant l’ensemble des entreprises d’au moins de 20 salariés, offre une possibilité de tester l’hypothèse selon laquelle les TIC, qu’il s’agisse du matériel ou du logiciel, peuvent avoir une influence positive sur les performances de la production. L’analyse est réalisée à ...ICT, technical efficiency, productivity, productivité, TIC, efficience technique

Productivity and profitability analysis of large Italian companies: 1998–2002

Profitability, Productivity, Principal component analysis, Financial ratio analysis, Enterprises ranking, D21, M4, G30,

Productivity Slowdown and the Role of the ICT in Italy: A Firm Level Analysis

This paper presents a firm-level analysis of the productivity slowdown that has been recently observed in Italy. DEA techniques are applied to the firm-level data collected within the annual surveys on the economic accounts of enterprises carried out by the Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT). TFP changes over the years 1996-1999 have been measured for 33 industries and have been decomposed into technological change (shift in the production frontier) and change in relative technical inefficiency (due to modifications in the distance of the single firms from the frontier). This decomposition has turned out to be helpful in interpreting the nature of the observed productivity slowdown. Econometric regressions of the firms' TFP changes on a number of variables, including a component factor correlated to ICT, reveal that the information and communication technologies may have a positive and significant impact on TFP in all examined industries during the period.ICT, Technical Efficiency, Productivity

Performance evaluation of Italian Firms in the last decade: a Latent Growth Models approach.

In Italy, the crisis period (from 2008 to 2014) was characterized by a deep negative conjuncture until 2009 and by a slight recovery until the first half of 2011, and from 2011 to 2014 by an intense recession. The aim of this work is to collect evidence on the riskiness trends of Italian manufacturing system with the following goals: to calculate the main financial ratios related to firms’ riskiness and distress risk trend by means of the book-value data; to detect the guide-variables outlining the firms’ riskiness and distress risk trend in the period 2008-2017. A Latent Growth Curve Model is proposed to analyse riskiness by using an important Italian private database containing the book-value data of the joint-stock company Italian firms