Maria Rosaria Ferrante

Hierarchical Bayes multivariate estimation of poverty rates based on increasing thresholds for small domains

A model-based small area method for calculating estimates of poverty rates based on different thresholds for subsets of the Italian population is proposed. The subsets are obtained by cross-classifying by household type and administrative region. The suggested estimators satisfy the following coherence properties: (i) within a given area, rates associated with increasing thresholds are monotonically increasing; (ii) interval estimators have lower and upper bounds within the interval (0, 1); (iii) when a large domain-specific sample is available the small area estimate is close to the one obtained using standard design-based methods; (iv) estimates of poverty rates should also be produced for domains for which there is no sample or when no poor households are included in the sample. A hierarchical Bayesian approach to estimation is adopted. Posterior distributions are approximated by means of MCMC computation methods. Empirical analysis is based on data from the 2005 wave of the EU-SILC survey.

Spatial Agglomeration, Production Technology and the Choice to Make and/or Buy: Empirical Evidence from the Emilia Romagna Machine Tool Industry

Antonietti R., Ferrante M. R. and Leoncini R. Spatial agglomeration, production technology and the choice to make and/or buy: empirical evidence from the Emilia Romagna machine tool industry, Regional Studies. Using a new firm-level dataset, the decision, and relative intensity, to source either fully or partially production activities by small mechanical firms in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy is analysed. A hurdle negative binomial model is estimated, controlling for endogeneity and composition of the production process. Full outsourcing is positively related to the share of skilled personnel, the presence abroad and the employment density in neighbouring firms. Concurrent sourcing is affected by firm size, age and labour cost. The insensitivity of concurrent outsourcing to the industrys spatial concentration reflects the lower transaction costs compared with full outsourcing.

Learning-by-Exporting and Productivity: Evidences from a Panel of Manufacturing Firms

This paper investigates the dynamics of productivity experienced by firms that start to exporting. The effect of entering into international markets is disentangled by the self-selection component and its empirical distribution is evaluated. Results show that the impact on productivity of moving from the status of non-exporter to the status of exporter is different at different sections of the productivity distribution.

Infrastructure endowment, social capital and outsourcing: evidence from Emilia Romagna, Italy

Using an original dataset of small, machine-tool firms located in Emilia Romagna, Italy, we estimate the effect of social capital on the propensity to fully or partially outsource production activities. In particular, we investigate whether social capital favours outsourcing in contexts characterized by a relatively high infrastructure endowment. We show that the likelihood to fully outsource production activities increases with the local level of social capital. We also find that this effect is higher in regions where the density of transport infrastructures is higher. On the other hand, we do not find any significant effect of social capital on the propensity to partially outsource production activities. We argue that social capital is more effective in reducing the scope for opportunistic behaviour when monitoring costs are higher and where mobility is easier.