TITLE:
Being Efficient to Stay Strong in a Weak Economy. The Case of Calabrian Manufacturing Firms
AUTHORS:
Francesco Aiello, Concetta Castiglione
KEYWORDS:
ICT, R&D, Stochastic Frontier, Calabria, Manufacturing Firms
JOURNAL NAME:
Technology and Investment,
Vol.5 No.2,
May
13,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this
work is to study the efficiency of firms operating in Calabria, a small and
economically-lagging Italian region. The analysis is carried out by estimating
a stochastic production frontier for an unbalanced panel of manufacturing firms
which are observed over the 1998-2006 period. Results show that the efficiency
score is, on average, about 60%. A declining trend is observed over the last
three-year period, 2004-2006. Moreover, efficiency increases with firm age and
when firms export. Inconclusive evidence is found for the role of investments
in ICT and R&D. This is not very surprising given that private effort in
technological activities is extremely low in Calabria (private R&D
intensity was less than 0.075% of regional GDP in 2010).