Summary This paper tests whether the large, cheap, stable, and low-cyclical flows of workers' remittances reduce the probability of current account reversals in recipient countries. Using a large panel of emerging and developing economies, we find that this is indeed the case: when remittances...

The authors combine the literature on financial crises in emerging markets and developing economies with that on international migrations by investigating whether the increasingly large flows of workers' remittances can help reduce the probability of current account reversals. The rationale for...

This paper analyzes the effects of international trade on the relative demand for skilled workers in Italian local labor markets. We find that exports cause a sizable skill upgrading in the labor force by increasing the average level of education of the workforce and the share of white-collars...

We test whether and how the adoption of the euro, narrowly defined as the end of competitive devaluations, has affected member states' productive structures, distinguishing between within and across sector reallocation. We find evidence that the euro has been accompanied by a reallocation of...

In Italy the debate on the recent growth slowdown has focused on the increased competitive pressures by developing countries in sectors where Italy used to own a revealed comparative advantage. This paper aims at quantifying explicitly the effects of such pressures on the productivity of firms...

This paper studies the complementarity between investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the related investment in human and organizational capital. Using firm-level data taken from a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms, an ICT marginal product much higher than...

The paper examines the traits, strategies and performances of leading Italian export firms before and during the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The sample analysed is based on Italian export firms that reported foreign sales of at least Euro fifteen million in 2007. The companies feature...