Carlo Menon

Stars and Comets: An Exploration of the Patent Universe

The analysis of patent and citation data has become a popular source of evidence on localized knowledge spillovers and innovation. Nevertheless, one aspect has been overlooked: the patent distribution across inventors is extremely skewed, as many inventors -- the comets -- register one or few patents, while a small number of inventors -- the stars -- register many patents. This raises a number of questions relating to the geography of innovation: do different categories of inventors interact with the local economic environment in the same way? Are they equally distributed over space or do they tend to concentrate? Is spatial proximity beneficial for their activity? Using a rich database on US inventors, we provide evidence suggesting that the two categories of patents are associated with different kinds of cities. We then test whether the activity of stars is beneficial for local comets, finding that a 10% increase in the number of patents authored by star inventors leads to a 3% increase in the number of patents developed by comet inventors.

Firm Size and Judicial Efficiency: Evidence from the Neighbour's Court

We investigate the causal relationship between judicial efficiency and firm size across Italian municipalities exploiting spatial discontinuities in court jurisdictions for identification. The estimated coefficients suggest that the reduction of the length of civil proceedings could exert, all other things being equal, a significant and positive effect on the average size of Italian firms. Results are robust to a number of different specifications, based on two different databases.

The Causal Effect of Credit Guarantees for SMEs: Evidence from Italy

We evaluate the effectiveness of a partial credit guarantee program implemented in a large Italian region using unique microdata from a broad set of firms. Our results show that the policy was effective to the extent that it resulted in an improved financial condition for the beneficiary firms. While the total amount of bank debt was unaffected, firms showed a significant increase in the long-term component. Furthermore, targeted firms benefited from a substantial decrease in interest rates. On the other hand, there is some evidence that the probability of default increases as a consequence of the treatment, although the effect is only marginally significant. There are, instead, no effects on the real outcomes.

Down and Out in Italian Towns: Measuring the Impact of Economic Downturns on Crime

The paper investigates the effect of local economic conditions on crime. The study focuses on Italy’s local labor markets and analyzes the short-term response of crime to the severe slump of 2007-2009. It shows that the downturn led to a significant increase in economic-related offenses that do not require particular criminal skills or tools (namely, thefts); on the other hand, for offenses for which specific skills and criminal experience are essential (say, robberies) the impact of the crisis was negative. The results also suggest that: i) labor market institutions (i.e. wage supplementary schemes and pro-worker contractual arrangements) had a role in slowing down the effect of the economy on crime; ii) the link between the downturn and crime was weaker in areas where the presence of organized crime is relatively more intensive.

Start-up Dynamics In Japan: Comparative Evidence From the Dynemp v.2 Database

Abstract The present paper describes the patterns of entry and post-entry growth in the Japanese manufacturing sector over the 2001–2007 period, pointing to similarities and differences with other countries. The paper also presents a detailed characterization of start-up dynamics at a more detailed (two-digit) sectoral level within the manufacturing sector. The analysis shows that in Japan the entry and growth of start-ups contribute relatively little to net job creation, as compared to other countries. The main reasons are a particularly low start-up rate and a growth rate of surviving new businesses that is among the lowest in the sample of countries analysed.