projects

Working papers

[1] The diffusion of digital services in the Public Administration: patterns and drivers among Italian Municipalities
with Elena Cefis (University of Bergamo) and Andrea Mina (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Abstract: This paper examines how various characteristics of top executives influence the decision to digitalize, focusing particularly on the leader’s previous career paths, homophily with superiors and tenure. While existing evidence on technology diffusion primarily centers on private organizations, this study takes a novel approach by investigating public institutions, specifically the public administration (PA) of Italian municipalities and their mayors. We employ a fixed effects conditional logit model for panel data, analyzing the adoption of the e-payment service provider (PagoPA) by Italian municipalities from 2012 to 2021. Aligning with existing literature in the strategy domain, we find that mayor’s digital skills obtained through previous career paths increases the probability of adoption, while mayor’s tenure has an inverse U-shaped relationship with the adoption of new technologies. Furthermore, we observe that homophily with high-ranking supervisors does not increase the propensity for adoption.
Working paper available upon request

[2] Technological adoption and Firm Resilience: Understanding the Economic Impact of New Digital Technologies
with Laura Bisio (Istat), Valeria Cirillo (University of Bari), Matteo Lucchese (Istat) and Andrea Mina (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Abstract: This study investigates the impact of new digital technologies on the resilience of firms to external shocks. Using rare comprehensive data on both the adoption of single and multiple new digital technologies, we employ a Difference-in-Differences methodology with propensity score matching to evaluate how digitalization influenced firms’ ability to withstand the COVID-19 crisis. We isolate the effects of adopting 1) a single technology, 2) multiple technologies (the breadth of adoption), and 3) technologies that are complementary to one another. The findings provide novel insights into how firms can shape their investments in new digital technologies to increase the benefits of digitalization, and enhance their ability to navigate future crises.
Available at LEM Working paper series : link to PDF

Selected Work in progress

[3] The Geography of Digitalization in Italian Public Administration
with Elena Cefis (University of Bergamo) and Andrea Mina (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Stage: Analysis in progress

[2] Data Driven Innovation. Measuring its Effects on Industries, Firms, and Business Models
with Diletta Abbonato (University of Milano-Bicocca), Gianluca Biggi (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies), Marco Guerzoni (University of Milano-Bicocca), Arianna Martinelli (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies) and Federico Tamagni (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Description: Data-driven innovation is defined by the OECD as the use of data and analytics to improve or foster new products, processes, organisational methods and markets. Using LLMs on earnings call for listed firms and patents for the universe of firms on PatentsView, we identify firms that perform Data-Driven Innovation. The aim of the project is to evaluate how such use of digital technologies for innovation can influence firms’ performance. The project is financed by the PRIN project Prot. 2022JHZL37.
Stage: Analysis in progress

[3] Innovation Through Mobility: A Study of Employment Flows in Research Institutes and Firm Laboratories
with Hanna Hottenrott (ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research & TUM - Technical University of Munich ) and Andrea Mina (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)
Stage: Data collection and cleaning