外文文献：中小企业的创新和生产力。意大利的实证证据Innovation and Productivity in SMEs. Empirical Evidence for Italy.pdfVIP

Innovation and Productivity in SMEs. Empirical Evidence for Italy* # § ♦♦ Bronwyn H. Hall, Francesca Lotti, * and Jacques Mairesse♦♦ Abstract Innovation in SMEs exhibits some peculiar features that most traditional indicators of innovation activity do not capture. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a structural model of innovation which incorporates information on innovation success from firm surveys along with the usual RD expenditures and productivity measures. We then apply the model to data on Italian SMEs from the “Survey on Manufacturing Firms” conducted by Mediocredito-Capitalia covering the period 1995-2003. The model is estimated in steps, following the logic of firms’ decisions and outcomes: in the first, RD intensity is linked to a set of firm and market characteristics. We find that international competition fosters RD intensity, especially for high-tech firms. Firm size, RD intensity, along with investment in equipment enhances the likelihood of having both process and product innovation. Both these kinds of innovation have a positive impact on firm’s productivity, especially process innovation. Among SMEs, larger and older firms seem to be less productive. Keywords: RD, Innovation, Productivity, SMEs, Italy. JEL classification: L60, O31, O33. * Corresponding author. # University of California at Berkeley, Maastricht University, NBER, and IFS. Deparment of Economics, 549 Evans Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3880. § Economic Research Department, Bank of Italy. Via Nazionale 91 – 00184 Rome, Italy. Email: francesca.lotti@bancaditalia.it ♦ CREST (ENSAE, Paris), UNU-MERIT (Maastricht Un