The Effects of Product Dropping on Firm's Productivity and Employment Composition

Recent literature on heterogeneous multi-product firms predicts that elimination of marginal (less productive) products, due to fiercer competition, leads to an increase of firm efficiency. We test this prediction in the case of a sample of Italian firms during a period (2000-05) of rising competitive pressures. Adopting a propensity score matching estimator, we find evidence of a causal relationship between product dropping and higher firm productivity. We also find evidence that product dropping activity causes a fall of the share of blue collars versus white collars. We draw some policy implications regarding labour market adjustment and support to internal product switching when competition shocks take place.