This paper investigates the role of wages, education and innovation in shaping employment structures in manufacturing and services of five European countries (Germany, France, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom), with specific respect to skills in the long term (1999-2011). Using data on employment...

The “virtuous circle” between innovative inputs, outputs and economic performance is investigated in this article with a three equation model highlighting feedback loops and simultaneous relations. An empirical test is carried out considering innovative expenditure, innovative turnover and...

Using data on the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by 1947 Italian firms in 2004 and 2005, this paper provides evidence that is consistent with three largely complementary streams of literature on innovation diffusion. First, as suggested by epidemic models, the authors...

This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess...

Firm’s size tipically changes through discrete leaps over time.The model of firm’s growth discussed here entails some nonstandard consequences. Firstly, profitability is not a continuous function of size, but exhibits a number of peaks. Secondly, investment increases in those firms where...

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,...

This paper presents a firm-level analysis of multifactor productivity (MFP) in Italy between 1998 and 2004. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique, MFP change are measured for 31 industries and decomposed into efficiency change and technical change (which in turn is interpreted as the...

This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess...