We propose a disaggregated representation of production using an agent-based fund-flow model that emphasizes inefficiencies, such as factor idleness and production instability, and allows us to explore their emergence through simulations. The model incorporates productivity dynamics (learning...

In this work we investigate two crucial dimensions of firms' structure and dynamics, that is profitability and productivity performance. The empirical distributions and the associated persistence over time are explored through a set of parametric and non parametric exercises performed on an...

Firm growth is an essential feature of market economies, shaping together macroeconomic performance and the evolution of industry structures. As a potential indicator of organizational "fitness" within a competitive environment, firm growth is also a central concern to both the practice and...

This paper asks whether the level of integration of world countries in the international network of temporary human mobility can explain differences in their per-capita income and labor productivity. We disentangle the role played by global country centrality in the network from traditional...

We investigate the impact of investment in automation-related goods on adopting and non-adopting firms in the Italian economy during 2011-2019. We integrate datasets on trade activities, firms', and workers' characteristics for the population of Italian importing firms and estimate the effects...

Understanding whether technical change is beneficial or detrimental for employment is at the center of the policy debate, especially in phases of economic recession. So far, the effects of innovation - in its manifold declinations and intrinsic complexity - on labour demand have proven to be not...

In the last years, there has been a growing interest in studying the global food system as a complex evolving network. Much of the literature has been focusing on the way countries are interconnected in the food system through international-trade linkages, and what consequences this may have in...

In this paper, I introduce new estimates of Anglo-Italian labour productivity levels in manufacturing during the late 1930s. The relatively high level of detail of the industrial censuses of the two countries, allows to retrieve also input data, enabling the use of the more sophisticated double...

Against a theoretical background which recognizes the gains from trade liberalization, this paper asks whether, and if so to what extent, economic integration as directly measured through vertically integrated value-added has increased or reduced convergence among European industries and related...

Cities are key places of economic activity, as they produce an enormous amount of wealth compared to the land they cover. Their study is, therefore, of primary importance in understanding the success of nations. Given the many interactions among people that happen within them, cities are well...