The demand side of Industrial Policies: Evidence and Methodology for Italian firms

Brancati, Raffaele and Ciferri, Davide (2007): The demand side of Industrial Policies: Evidence and Methodology for Italian firms.

Abstract

From the second post-war, a significant amount of resources have been used to support Italian industrial policy. Several studies has been developed in order to evaluate these types of interventions, but less efforts have been devoted to understand what were the real needs of Italian firms. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the demand of public subsides describing the experience of the Italian firms with regard to a complex structure of public interventions actually supplied by both central and local government. This type of demand is related to both the financial benefits led by the public grants and the firms’ needs produced by the potential new investments. A deep understanding of these mechanisms could improve the efficiency of the public sector policy design favouring the development of coherent and adequate program of grants with respect to the complex scenario in which Italian firms operate. Qualitative information and data were gathered trough interviews with managers of about 5400 firms. Logit techniques are developed in order to describe and quantify this demand. The main results are: firstly, it is difficult to outline a general demand framework in which all firms can be collocate independently by their specific characteristics: secondly, a significance and well-clear demand seems to stand out form those firms which represent the more innovative and dynamic sectors of the Italian economic system; finally, a more general and traditional view of the industrial policy related to the development of physic infrastructures is not such appreciated by the firms, mainly because of a lack of trust on the effective efficiency of these types of interventions.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: MET
• Language: English
• Keywords: evaluation industrial policy logit italy survey deadweight displacement firms state aids grants demand evaluating
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C25 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models ; Discrete Regressors ; Proportions ; Probabilities; H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations > H71 - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue; L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy

References

Blundell, R., Costa Dias, M. (2000), Evaluation Methods for Non-Experimental Data, Fiscal Studies vol. 21, n. 4, pp. 427-468. Blundell, R., Costa Dias, M., Meghir, C., Van Reenen J., (2001), Evaluating the employment impact of a mandatory job search assistance program, Working paper n. 20, Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK. Blundel, R., Costa-Dias, M., (2002), Alternative Approaches to Evaluation in Empirical Microeconomics, Working Paper n. 10, CEMMAP Centre for Microdata, Methods and Practice. Boscá J.E., Escribá F.J. e Murgui M.J., (2003), “The effect of pubblic infrastructure on the Private productive sector of Spanish Regions”, Journal of Regional Science, 42 (2), 301-326. Brancati R. (2001) Analisi e metodologie per la valutazione delle politiche industriali, F.Angeli, Milano. Brancati, R. (a cura di), (2001-2003-2005), Rapporto MET, Donzelli editore, Roma. Brancati R., (2001), Un quadro generale, in (a cura di) Brancati R., Le politiche industriali nelle regioni, -Rapporto Met 2000-, Donzelli Editore, Roma. Brown Marilyn A., Randall T. Curlee, e Steven R. Elliott (1995) “Evaluating Technology and Innovation Programs: The use of Comparison Groups to Identify Impacts,” ResearchPolicy 24, 669-684. Carlucci C., Centra M., Parancandolo P., (2001), Una valutazione di efficienza e di efficacia della legge 488/92, Atti del Convegno SIS 2001 “Processi e metodi statistici di valutazione”, Università di Tor Vergata, Roma, giugno 2001. Chiri, S., Pellegrini, G., (1995), Gli aiuti alle imprese nelle aree depresse, Rivista economica delMezzogiorno, n. 3. Chiri, S., Pellegrini, G., Sappino, C., (1998), L’attuazione dell’intervento per lo sviluppo degli investimenti nelle aree depresse, Rassegna Economica, n. 1. De Castris M., Pellegrini G. (2005), Complementarietà e sostituzione tra diverse politiche di sviluppo locale: i contratti di programma e la legge 488/92, Rassegna italiana di valutazione, anno IX, n.32, pp. 79-96. Del Monte A., Giannola A., 1997, Istituzioni economiche e Mezzogiorno. Analisi delle politiche di sviluppo, NIS, Roma e lavori di Del Monte ivi citati Dowall D.E. (1996), An evaluation of California's Enterprise Zone Programs, EconomicDevelopment Quarterly, 10: 352-368. Faini R., 1985, Incentivi e piccole e medie imprese nel Mezzogiorno, Ricerche Economiche XXXIX 3 Farrell, M.J. 1957, The measurement of productive efficiency, in «Journal of the Royal Stastical Society –Series A General-», 120(3), 253-290. Lenihan, H., 2004. 'Evaluating Irish industrial policy in terms of deadweight and displacement: a quantitative methodological approach'. Applied Economics, 363. pp. 229-252. Lenihan, H. and M.Hart, 2004. 'Additionality and Public Sector Support to Irish Industry: some methodological issues'. Research and the Knowledge based Society-Measuring the Link, European conference on good practice in evaluation and indicators, NUI Galway, May 24th, pp. 129-147invited paper. Ministero Attività Produttive (2003), “Valutazione della legge 488/92. Gli effetti occupazionali sul territorio”. M.Mollelman-Y.Prince-R.Kemp, (2004) Review of methodologies to measure the effectiveness of state aid to SMEs, Report to the European Commission, Draft, Pellegrini G., Carlucci C. (2003), Gli effetti della legge 488/92: una valutazione dell’impatto occupazionale sulle imprese agevolate, Rivista Italiana degli Economisti 2003/2; Pellegrini G., Carlucci C. (2001), La valutazione degli effetti degli aiuti alle imprese: metodi emodelli statistici, Atti del Convegno SIS 2001 “Processi e metodi statistici di valutazione”, Università di Tor Vergata, Roma, giugno 2001. Pellegrini, G., (1999), L’efficacia degli aiuti alle imprese nel Mezzogiorno. Il vecchio e il nuovo intervento, in Giannola A. (a cura di), Mezzogiorno tra Stato e Mercato, Il Mulino, 1999 PON “Sviluppo Imprenditoriale Locale” (2006) Rubin B.M. e Wilder M.G. (1989), Urban Enterprise Zones. Employment impacts and fiscal incentives, Journal of American Planning Association, 55: 418-431. Rubin M.M. (1991), Urban Enterprise Zones in New Jersey: have they made a difference?, in Enterprise Zones. New directions in economic development, Green R. E. (ed.), Sage Publications, Newbury Park CA. Scalera, D. e Zazzaro A. (2000) “Incentivi agli investimenti o rendite alleimprese? Una riflessione sulla procedura di allocazione dei sussidi previsti dalla legge n. 488 del 1992,” Rivista di Politica Economica, 90(5), 69-100.