This paper studies firms' decisions to export and invest in R&D and their effects on employment growth and labor flows for a sample of Italian SMEs operating in the manufacturing industry. After accounting for the under-reporting of R&D in SMEs, our quantile regressions reveal that (i) R&D is...

This paper examines the effects of uncertainty and flexible labour contracts on the Research and Development (R&D) expenditure. Using a panel of Italian manufacturing firms, we find a hump-shaped relationship between workforce flexibility and R&D outlays. Moreover, as predicted by the real...

The role of patents is threefold: first, they are important to state the property rights of an invention; second, they are necessary to secure financing for starting a new venture; third, they are fundamental to recoup R&D investments. The main difficulty in preventing unauthorized use of an...

This paper examines the implications of temporary migration episodes for two cohorts of Italian Ph.D.s. Special attention is given to the duration of experience abroad, its contribution to earned wages and the selectivity of returnees. After controlling for the endogeneity of both the migration...

This paper formalizes the use of flexible labor contracts in an efficiency wage framework and derives market dualism as an endogenous outcome. By allowing temporary contracts to be either renewed or converted into permanent contracts, new theoretical insights emerge both on the equilibrium wage...