Digital Technologies and Productivity: A Firm-Level Investigation for Italy

Government of the Italian Republic (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of the Treasury Working Paper No. 3

48 Pages Posted: 18 Dec 2023

See all articles by Francesco Nucci

Francesco Nucci

University of Rome I

Chiara Puccioni

Confindustria

Ottavio Ricchi

Government of the Italian Republic (Italy) - Ministry of Economy and Finance - RGS

Date Written: April 12, 2022

Abstract

We use three integrated firm-level databases maintained by the Italian Statistical Institute (Istat). In one of them, based on firms’ responses to a detailed Survey on digital adoption, Istat has identified different groups of firms in terms of their pattern of use of digital technologies. Relying on this statistical work, we divide firms in two groups in our empirical investigation: the one with firms that extensively adopt digital technologies and the other with firms that do not. By considering digital adoption in the first group as a treatment, we employ the propensity score matching (PSM) approach combined with a difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis and establish more directly the causal impact of firm’s use of digital technology on productivity. We find that firms with high digital adoption have a rate of variation of labor productivity, between 2015 and 2018, which is, on average, 2.7 percentage points higher than that of firms with low digital adoption. We also detect heterogeneity in this result as the estimated effect is found to be stronger in manufacturing firms, small firms and young firms.

Suggested Citation

Nucci, Francesco and Puccioni, Chiara and Ricchi, Ottavio, Digital Technologies and Productivity: A Firm-Level Investigation for Italy (April 12, 2022). Government of the Italian Republic (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of the Treasury Working Paper No. 3, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4546688 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4546688

Francesco Nucci (Contact Author)

University of Rome I ( email )

Piazzale Aldo Moro
Rome, 00185
Italy
+39 06 4991 0847 (Phone)
+39 06 445 3246 (Fax)

Chiara Puccioni

Confindustria

Ottavio Ricchi

Government of the Italian Republic (Italy) - Ministry of Economy and Finance - RGS ( email )

Via XX Settembre 97
Rome
Italy
39-06-47614774 (Phone)

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