Research

IP-based Financing of Innovative firms (2015) – M. Antonielli

This paper explains why IP-based financing for innovating firms is important for knowledge-driven growth. It summarises recent developments and efforts to improve IP-based financing in several countries, including policy options for making IP-based financing markets function better, building trust and awareness, and reducing the risk associated with IP-based financing instruments. The paper is part of larger OECD study on the economic impact of the Intellectual Property Rights.

Antitrust risk in EU manufacturing: A sector-level ranking (2014) – M. Antonielli and M. Mariniello

Where are antitrust risks higher in European manufacturing? Is it where the European Commission intervenes the most?

Based on a dataset of manufacturing sectors from five major European economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) between 2000 and 2011, we identify a number of key sector-level features that, according to established economic research, have a positive impact on the likelihood of collusion. We then rank sectors according to the distribution of antitrust intervention by the European Commission between 2000 and 2013, in terms of merger control and anti-cartel enforcement. Antitrust investigations are based on the identification of narrow product markets. The characteristics of these markets are not necessarily well represented by average measures at sector level. Nevertheless, a simple comparison exercise shows that the European Commission’s interventions have been largely consistent with sector rankings based on market concentration.

“Mapping European Competitiveness” project (MAPCOMPETE) – European Union Framework Programme 7

The project aims to identify gaps in available data sets and key data requirements for constructing better competitiveness indicators at different levels. My contribution focused on generating a ‘competitiveness map’ of indicators that can be possibly derived with existing economic datasets on European Union economies. The project is conducted by researchers in seven top-tier Universities and research centres. This published paper contains most of my research.

Vertical Offshoring with Heterogeneous Firms (2012) – M. Antonielli

Wage and employment inequality are on the rise in many countries. While several valid hypothesis have been tested, skill-biased technical change, e.g. the introduction of technologies like ICT that favour the skilled, and international trade & offshoring have obtained most of the credit. However, recent evidence on the heterogeneity of firms engaging in trade and offshoring points to one potential contradiction with increasing inequality.

On the one hand we have the fact that offshoring firms employ more skill-intensive technologies than the median firm in each sector. Therefore, relocating jobs from these firms leads to an equilibrium reallocation of resources towards firms employing less skill-intensive technologies. Hence, the demand for skills could decrease, at odds with the facts. To better investigate the issue, I developed a model of vertical offshoring with heterogeneous firms based on the work of Bustos: I found out that the result crucially depends on the dynamic response of firms and the conditions under which this response can result in within-sector increase in the demand for skills. Indeed there is one effect for which new offshoring firms not only relocate some jobs but also expand their headquarters activities (administrative, but also marketing and R&D) at home, which are skill-biased with respect to the median activity in the sector.

Collusion and the political differentiation of newspapers (2012) – M. Antonielli and L. Filistrucchi

How relevant is advertising for media pluralism? When media outlets tailor their contents to the political views of the readers/viewers in order to attract more advertising, the public concern is that competition can result in media outlets catering too moderate views. This convergent trend towards the so-called pensée unique was investigated by Gabsewicz, Laussel and Sonnac (GLS) back in 2002. Advertising was introduced in a two-sided setting (readers & advertisers) and the result was broadly confirmed. But what if newspapers collude on prices? This is the question I tried to answer: I developed a repeated game drawn on the existing GLS model and found that indeed, cooperating in prices can have even stronger effects on pluralism than competition.