Papers by LEOPOLDO NASCIA
This publication is a Science for Policy Report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commis... more This publication is a Science for Policy Report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's in-house science service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policy-making process. This publication, or any statements expressed therein, do not imply nor prejudge policy positions of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication.
Research Square (Research Square), Jul 21, 2023
In 2015 Italy adopted a new labor market policy, the so-called Jobs Act (JA) that is aimed at fos... more In 2015 Italy adopted a new labor market policy, the so-called Jobs Act (JA) that is aimed at fostering employment and reducing costs in firing employees. JA granted a relevant hiring subsidy in the form of relief on social security contributions. JA included a new regulation that lowered firing costs and made them less uncertain. In this paper we investigated how the Jobs Act previsions affects employment. We estimate the impact of Jobs Act relief on social security contributions and the effect of new firing rules on employment using a large sample of Italian firms and by applying a two-step procedure: propensity score matching and Difference-inDifference estimation. The main finding is a weak temporary increase of new hiring due to lower labor costs and labor dismissal deregulation. Actually, the outcomes of this model do not signal a strong effect of these measures both for the employment changes and for flexible workers changes. The employment changes seem to be benefited more from new dismission rules than from decontribution incentives.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2018
This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European ... more This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication.
SN Business & Economics, Dec 29, 2022
Since the introduction of Euro, the presence of foreign ownership business in Italy is steadily i... more Since the introduction of Euro, the presence of foreign ownership business in Italy is steadily increasing . This presence affects the market structure and may produce spill-over effects on employment rate of growth, as well. This paper deals with the change in the Italian employment rate, depending on both the presence of international business and its effects on the Italian economic system. The analysis is carried out by disentangling the information of a wide longitudinal dataset of the Italian National Statistical Institute. In particular, a first differencing panel model is applied and preliminary results are presented using a panel of Italian firms on 2002-2007.
Economic Crisis and Economic Thought, 2019
Industrial and Corporate Change, 2019
This article examines the main actions in the field of industrial, investment and innovation poli... more This article examines the main actions in the field of industrial, investment and innovation policy currently carried out at the European level, focusing on the changes in Europe’s manufacturing production since the 2008 crisis. Current actions by the EU in this field are assessed—including funding programs, fiscal rules, competition policy, the Juncker Plan-InvestEU initiative and the activities of European Investment Bank. The present and potential space for such initiatives is examined in the light of the growing debate on the need for a return to a greater role for public policies in favoring sustainable growth and support investment. In view of the debate on the new EU budget 2021–2017, the scope for a more active industrial policy is discussed.
Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major disruption in global value chains (GVCs) that pushed the ... more The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major disruption in global value chains (GVCs) that pushed the global economy into a recession that promises to be worse than the 2008 crisis. This article illustrates the mechanisms through which the COVID-19 pandemic affected GVCs in the context of a changing configuration of the global economy. In particular, it is argued that GVCs became the main transmission channels of “economic contagion”. Finally, we posit that the pandemic provides an opportunity to revive the role of industrial policy as to govern the landslides of a world economy constantly pressured by globalization and deglobalization forces.
Industrial and Corporate Change, 2022
In Italy, productivity had a turning point in the second half of the 1990s, when it went into dec... more In Italy, productivity had a turning point in the second half of the 1990s, when it went into decline. During the last few years, productivity in Italy has been sluggish, with an even more marked decreasing trend. Studies on companies’ performances, regarding productivity growth, have highlighted different aspects and various concomitant factors. Many analyses focused on the lack of investment and productivity differentials related to export activity. Indeed, productivity growth is a multidimensional problem that can be approached by following the evolution of various factors, such as profitability, labor costs, growth of aggregate demand, and investment. This work aims at identifying and analyzing, at the microlevel, the determinants of labor productivity over the whole period 2004–2013, and in the two sub-periods before and after the 2007 crisis. The goal is to determine the factors that have most influenced the change in the productivity of manufacturing companies in the period c...
This article investigates the role of technology, education and wages in shaping the skill struct... more This article investigates the role of technology, education and wages in shaping the skill structure of employment considering the upswings and downswings of business cycles. We develop an econometric estimation of these relationships and carry out an empirical test at the industry level for manufacturing and services for five European countries (Germany, France, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom) over the period 1999-2011, For the first time, these relationships are separately investigated in the specific contexts of the last upswing of Europe’s business cycle (2002-2007) and of the post-crisis downswing (2007-2011) in order to assess the impact of cycles on employment and skill dynamics, and their determinants. Skills are investigated using ISCO professional groups, with a distinction between Managers, Clerks, Craft and Manual workers. We show that patterns of change of such groups are significantly different from one another and are appropriate to account for the evolution of the o...
Contemporary Italian Politics, 2021
ABSTRACT The Italian government’s economic policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis has in... more ABSTRACT The Italian government’s economic policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis has included large public programmes supporting households’ incomes and firms’ balance sheets, alongside a limited expansion of public health expenditures. The macroeconomic response has been in line with those of other European countries; Europe’s new approach to fiscal policy has opened up new possibilities for addressing the crisis. However, beyond the pandemic emergency, the government’s policy approach has lacked a longer-term perspective on economic reconstruction, environmental sustainability, welfare expansion and distributional outcomes. The fragility of Italian politics has contributed to this lack of vision and to a growing uncertainty over the country’s economic future.
Typically, firms change their size through a row of discrete leaps over time. A very basic model ... more 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 in those firms where profit falls shorte...
Economists stress issues for financing Research & Development (R&D) in business sectors. Credit c... more Economists stress issues for financing Research & Development (R&D) in business sectors. Credit constraints are considered the main barriers for the implementation of R&D projects within firms. Usually, incentives are aimed at boosting R&D expenditures, but are constrained by financial resources and lack of warranties for the risk. In this paper, we examine how cash holdings can affect the R&D expenses of a firm. An important factor that may influence the R&D expenditures, together with cash flow, is the ownership structure. The use of multiple moderate regressions are proposed for analysing the relationship between financial ratios and R&D intensity. The analysis is performed using a data base concerning the financial reports of Italian firms with reference to the years 2006 and 2007.
The crisis started in 2008 has accelerated the decline of Italy’s industry. An analysis of the ... more The crisis started in 2008 has accelerated the decline of Italy’s industry. An analysis of the current tools used in Italy’s industrial and innovation policy shows that they are not able to support a revival of production and investment in Italy and to reduce Italy’s gap in technological activities. A strong recovery depends on the development of a more ambitious industrial policy plan, combining Italian and European initiatives.
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Papers by LEOPOLDO NASCIA