This paper investigates the relationship between finance and R&D for a panel of more than 1000 Italian manufacturing firms. While Italian firms obtain a significant share of their financing from debt, the results from a unique survey show that firms use virtually no debt to finance R&D. Because...

The paper empirically investigates the issue of financial constraints to investment, focusing on its relationship with innovation activities. The study is based on the analysis of a cross-industries panel of 804 Italian companies, observed through the years 1995--2000. The main objective of the...