Upwind sailors. Financial profile of innovative Italian firms during the double-dip recession

Daniele Pianeselli

No 515, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: We examine the issue of patents of Italian non-financial firms over the period 2008– 2012, during which the Italian economy was hit by two almost consecutive recessions. We classify firms according to their patenting activity, taking into consideration their financial characteristics. We find that innovation is concentrated in the manufacturing sector, where very few large firms maintain a persistent level of inventive capacity. Firms increased their average patenting slightly during the crisis compared to the period 2003–2007. Since Italian innovating firms are large and mature, a higher cash flow and a lower indebtedness allow them to fund patent-generating activity using internal resources. Moreover, innovating firms grow faster than non-innovating ones, even during recessions.

Keywords: innovation; crisis; financial profile; Italian firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G01 G30 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-ino and nep-tid
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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