Research output

Publications


Montinari, L., Riccaboni, M. & Schiavo, S. Innovation, Trade and Multi-product Firms, forthcoming Canadian Journal of Economics

  • This paper contributes to the literature explaining firm-level heterogeneity in the extensive margin of trade, defined as the number of products exported by each firm. We develop a dynamic model where firms must invest in R&D to maintain and increase their portfolio of goods: the process of product innovation by incumbent firms is such that the probability to capture new products is a function of the number of varieties already exported. Varieties can also be produced from scratch by new entrepreneurs. The entry/exit dynamics of varieties, together with population growth that characterize the economy, gives rise to a distribution for the number of products exported by each firm with a heavy right tail, which is consistent with the data. This markedly heterogeneous behavior in export markets occurs even if we do not assume any heterogeneity in productivity to start with. On the other hand, we assume that differences in export sales across products originate from the demand- side of the model, in the form of a product-specific preference attribute. Finally, a simple extension of the model allows us to derive some interesting insights on the behavior of multi-products firms: sales of different products across destinations are not uncorrelated, but show a rather strict hierarchy.

  • See also: OFCE WP 2015

M. Equi Pierazzini, L. Bertelli, E. Raviola (2021). Working with words: Italian feminism and organization studies, Gender, Work & Organization.

Marzo, D., Tonga Uriarte, Y. & Catoni, M. L. (2021). Festivals as Collaborative Spaces: the worlding ecology of comic conventions. In: F. Montanari, E. Mattarelli, A. Scapolan (eds.), Collaborative Spaces at Work: Innovation, Creativity and Relations. Routledge.

  • The investigation on collaborative spaces has until now focused mainly on physical places, in which face-to-face interactions take place across mid or long periods of time. Other temporary, ephemeral or even virtual settings have not attracted due scholarly attention, although they can become places in which collaborative practices arise and unfold. This chapter analyzes festivals as collaborative spaces and explores the internal and external determinants that play a role in turning them into creative milieus. The investigation focuses on the specific case of comic conventions, broadly understood as events dedicated to fantasy culture, including literature, games, comics, cinema and their transmedial convergences. Comic conventions embody characteristics of festivals and festive rites, involving multi-faceted spatial, temporal and creative dimensions. At the same time, the relations among the diverse actors involved become part of more complex economic and organizational patterns, unfolding from the production, consumption and reception of transmedial contents. Despite the differences that may be highlighted with respect to more permanent spatial settings, events of this kind display a strong “creative” potential and may be considered as cyclical spaces for collaboration.

Tonga Uriarte, Y. & Catoni, M. L. (eds). (2020). Temporary organizing and temporality: Stability and change in Cultural and Creative Industries. Fazzi Editore.

  • In this book, we focus on temporary organizing in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) and draw attention to the need for a profound reflection on the specific characteristics of the arts and heritage field in related research. From an organizational perspective, CCIs have been growing in importance, yet with many definitional, analytical and methodological issues along with challenges posed by contextual specificities. As an attempt to contribute to on-going discussions, this book is the result of a 2 days workshop where academicians from different disciplines and prominent practitioners came together to discuss temporary organizing in CCIs from different perspectives, with a particular focus on temporality and the interplay between stability and change. These discussions intended to contribute to developing an integrated approach and a common ‘language’. The 10 chapters of this book offer multiple perspectives of the phenomenon providing both conceptual and empirical works adopting diverse, multidisciplinary, theoretical approaches.

DeFillippi, R. & Tonga Uriarte, Y. (2020). The Belonging Paradox and Identities in Festivals. In: T Braun, J Lampel (eds.), Tensions and paradoxes in temporary organizing. Book Series: Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Emerald Insight.

  • Festivals are conceptualised in this chapter as temporary organisations embedded in more permanent structures (e.g. festival lead organisation). Festivals face a series of paradoxical tensions common to temporary organisations in creative fields. These tensions arise, in part, from the diversity of actors involved in festivals and the distinctive values and priorities they bring to their festival organisational involvement. Lucca Comics & Games (LC&G), which is one of the biggest comic-cons in the world, operates in the intersection of different institutional contexts, which include a wide range of actors involved. Thus, tensions appear within the LC&G domain as a result of these actors’ different levels of involvement in the festival organisation and their diverse identities. These tensions and their resolutions will be analysed from the perspective of extant theory on paradox. A specific focus of this chapter is on the belonging paradox, which concerns the role of competing identities among different types of festival participants and how these competing identities are manifested in the organisational identity of LC&G, its structures and processes. Our study provides evidence of identity tensions as both/and relationships that are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic. The authors also suggest that ‘place identity’ requires further examination as a distinctive feature of temporary organising in festivals, considering its role in mediating tensions arising from the belonging paradox amongst festival main actors (exhibitors, artists, public bodies and lead organisation employees).

Samuk Carignani, S., Acuner, D. & Tonga Uriarte, Y. (2021). From forced migration to mobility: Dreaming of home within ‘rooted mobilities’. In: D Cairns (ed), The Palgrave Handbook of Youth Mobility and Educational Migration. Palgrave Macmillan.

Blanas, S., Gancia, G. & Lee, S.Y.T. (2020), Who is afraid of machines?, Economic Policy, Volume 34, Issue 100, pages 627–690.

Leombruni, R., Razzolini, T. & Serti, F. (2019), Macroeconomic Conditions at Entry and Injury Risk at the Workplace, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Volume 121, Issue 2, pages 783-807.

  • Using a unique dataset from Italy, we show that the local unemployment rate at entry has a persistent positive effect on severe and non‐severe workplace injuries of young workers. Entrants during recessions, despite receiving marginally higher entry wages, also experience slower wage growth. The observed pattern in the differences between severe and non‐severe injuries indicates that entrants during recessions might under‐report non‐severe workplace injuries. Our findings suggest that workers entering during recessions are persistently locked into low‐quality jobs and that the mix of hazardous tasks endogenously adjusts to the business cycle.

Blanas, S., Seric, A. & Viegelahn, C. (2019). Job Quality, FDI and Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Firm-Level Data, European Journal of Development Research, 31(5): 1287-1317.

  • Using a unique sample of foreign-owned and domestic firms in Sub-Saharan Africa, we study the differences in the quality of jobs that they offer, and identify how these differences are associated with country-level institutional factors. We find that foreign-owned firms offer more stable and secure jobs than domestic firms, as evidenced by their higher and lower shares of permanent full-time and temporary employment, respectively. The job stability and security advantage of foreign-owned firms is smaller in countries with higher firing costs and better governance, where domestic firms are likely to offer more stable and secure jobs. In addition, foreign-owned firms are less likely to offer unpaid work and have a lower share of these workers. They also have a higher average training intensity and pay higher wages to different types of workers. The wage premia of foreign-owned firms are lower in countries with higher governance and social policy standards, where domestic firms are likely to pay higher wages. Finally, we show that the job quality advantage of foreign-owned firms depends on the location of their parents, the mode of their establishment, their main business purpose and the most critical investment incentive received from the host country.

  • See also: Online First; ILO Research Department WP; LUMS Economics WP; Devpolicy blog

Tonga Uriarte, Y., DeFilippi R. J., Riccaboni, M. & Catoni M. L. (2019). Projects, institutional logics and institutional work practices: The case of the Lucca Comics & Games Festival. International Journal of Project Management, 37(2), 318-330.

  • This paper investigates the relations between festivals and their institutional settings, and how these relations shape festival management. We analyze institutional logics and work practices in a complex project, Lucca Comics & Games, which is the biggest festival dedicated to fantasy culture in Italy. Our results, based on archival research, media coverage and interview data, reveal the recursive interplay between institutional logics and work practices for institutional maintenance. We argue that the study of festivals is essential to understanding key aspects of project-based organizing more generally. In this regard, the maintaining of institutions must be distinguished from stability or the absence of change and consideration of historical and contextual analysis, and multiple tensions that occur due to competing institutional logics can open up new ways of thinking for prospective research. We also demonstrate that future research can use institutional work practices for understanding institutional maintenance in recurring temporary organizations.

Tonga Uriarte, Y., Antognozzi, T. & Catoni, M. L. (2019) Investigating Tourism Impacts of Festivals: An exploratory case study of a big scale comic-con. Event Management, 23(6), 817-833.

  • In recent years, festivals have been increasing their prominence as a medium for endorsing local development, promoting tourism, and improving city image. Subsequently, festivalization of culture has become a growing phenomenon that not only serves for primary purposes, such as audience outreach, cultural creativity and exchange, but also brings along a significant resonance with extensive socioeconomic impacts both in and out of the local destination. On the other hand, cultural production has been evolving with increasing variety and availability of multimedia products and expanding its audience with new consumption patterns; thus, giving birth to emerging forms of alternative cultures. As an interesting example, the fantasy genre in popular culture became a large umbrella of declinations that includes literature, games, comics, cinema, and their transmedial convergences, as well as related forms of lifestyle narratives. On the intersection of these two phenomena, this article aims at investigating the tourism impacts of a unique festival, a comic-con, Lucca Comics & Games (LC&G), in light of the festival motivations, experience, and meanings. The history of LC&G dates back to 1966 and today it brings around 500,000 attendees to the historic city of Lucca as one of the biggest festivals dedicated to fantasy culture in the world. To investigate festival-related tourism impacts, we focused on the LC&G audience and conducted a comprehensive survey with 7,147 visitors during the event in 2015. The results indicate the uniqueness of the festival with a very loyal, big amount of audience, and widespread impacts, including a drastic rise in the demand for tourism facilities with a high short-term direct economic impact. Nevertheless, tourism impacts that are an indispensable component of the festival and of crucial importance mainly for the development of the territory, occur intrinsically as a consequence of the festival’s success to address its core communities’ expectations, rather than being a primary aim.

Tonga Uriarte, Y., Verga, F., DeFillippi, R. & Catoni M. L. (2019). Managing ‘creative’ employees in project-based cultural organizations: Work dynamics of Manifesta – the European Nomadic Biennial. In: EURAM 2019 Conference Proceedings. ISSN 2466-7498 and ISBN 978-2-9602195-1-7

  • This paper investigates the tensions around the relation between organizational practices and work dynamics in the cultural and creative industries, and the ways in which they are managed to achieve both artistic and managerial aims in project-based cultural organizations within multicultural contexts. To this end, we focus on the relation between motivation and work experience of ‘creative’ employees and industry factors, and employ a case study that represents an unexplored topic in the literature; the European Nomadic Biennial, Manifesta. Our results, based on archival research, media coverage and a survey study, provide an insightful, empirically based account of an unexplored field within cultural and creative industries, and reveal the specific challenges due to the nomadic nature and its association with employees’ career paths. This paper contributes to the management literature on cultural and creative industries by providing a new perspective on work dynamics with theoretical implications.

Tonga Uriarte, Y, Uriarte, R. B. & Catoni, M. L. (2017). Towards a Holistic Methodology for the Assessment of Cultural and Creative Spillovers. European Research Partnership on CCS.

Tonga Uriarte, Y. (2017). A Detailed Analysis of the Private/Independent Theatre Scene in Istanbul. In: Ada S (ed.), Cultural Policy and Management (KPY) Yearbook 2016: Independent Republic of Culture. Istanbul Bilgi University Press.

  • This study aims to provide an empirically based account of the private/independent theatre scene in Istanbul, while hinting at directions for improvements in the cultural policy framework. To this end, we conducted an extensive survey with 24 theatres regarding their institutional structure, opinions and priorities. In light of the findings, we analyse the establishment of the field on the following: (a) physical structure; (b) employment policy and structure; (c) budget structure; (d) artistic productivity; and (e) market and audience development. Then, we discuss potential solutions for the main challenges and present policy recommendations. Considering the lack of such studies in the field, this research can be considered as a pioneer, providing a fruitful basis for theatre professionals, prospective policy agenda and further research in the area.

Tonga Uriarte, Y. (2016). Developing sustainable cultural policies in Turkey: an investigation of public opinion on the theatre scene. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 22(3), 376-402.

  • The arts scene in Turkey has been witnessing many discussions with the revealing of the governmental reform agenda on the state support model for the arts that includes establishment of an arts council type institution, the closure of the State Theatres and, the State Opera and Ballet. Nevertheless, despite strong public criticism on this reform agenda, there has never been any comprehensive research to reflect the public opinion. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to recent discussions by providing data on public opinion regarding such a fundamental change, with a particular focus on theatre. Towards this end, a survey was conducted in Istanbul. The findings demonstrate that the majority, including both users and non-users of theatre, value the State Theatres and are in favour of sustaining it. There is also a common belief that in case of the State Theatres’ closure, the private theatres cannot undertake its public mission.

Tonga Uriarte, Y. (2016). How to build an identity for a cultural institution that inhabits the contemporaneity. In: Dubini P (ed.), Institutionalising fragility: Entrepreneurship in cultural organisations. Milano: Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.

Tonga, Y. & Gursu, M. I. (2015). A Comparative Perspective on the Discourses of Privatization in the Arts and Heritage Field in Turkey. In: Proceedings of the 6th Annual Research Session ENCATC. ISBN: 978-92-990036-2-6

  • Over the last decade, the arts and heritage field has been witnessing an incremental change in the traditional role of public bodies through decentralization tendencies and involvement of private actors. Despite similar transformation paths experienced in different countries, their reflections on the governmental discourse may vary even within the same country. From this perspective, the changing use of privatization within the Turkish context provides interesting case studies for such an investigation. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to shed light on the public discourse on the arts and heritage field in Turkey with a focus on privatization. A comparative perspective will be provided by two cases: (i) debate on the State Theaters' future with the establishment of an Arts Council; and (ii) managerial restructurings (transfer of ticket offices from the State to private sector) at archaeological sites and state museums. Discussion on the case studies aims to form an insight to the public understanding of arts and heritage in Turkey.

Leombruni, R., Razzolini, T. & Serti, F. (2013), The Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Costs of Job Displacement - The Risky Job of Being back to Work, European Economic Review, Volume 61, pages 205-216.

  • This paper investigates the effect of displacement on workplace injury risk and earnings using Italian administrative data on work histories merged with data on individual job-related accidents. Compared to a control group of non-displaced workers selected with propensity score matching techniques, re-employed displaced workers are exposed to moderate earnings losses and experience approximately a 79% increase in workplace injuries. This sizeable reduction in the quality of non-pecuniary working conditions is driven by the transition to new occupations and the risk imposed by new work environments.

Tonga, Y. (2013). The State Theatres in Turkey: Analyses on Valuation and the Management Model. In: ATINER's Conference Paper Series.

Serti, F., Tomasi, S. & Zanfei, A. (2010), Who Trades with Whom? Exploring the Links between Firms' International Activities, Skills, and Wages, Review of International Economics, Voume 18, Issue 5, pages 951-971.

  • Using firm-level data on the Italian manufacturing industry, we examine how trade activities are related to workforce composition and wages. We contribute to empirical research on these issues in three ways. First, we provide new evidence that is consistent with multi-attribute models on firm heterogeneity and trade. We show that even after controlling for various company characteristics, including size and capital intensity, exporters still pay higher wages and employ more skilled workers than non-exporters. Second, we consider engagement in international transactions, either by means of exports, imports, or a combination of the two. We show that failing to control for importing activities may bias upward export premia. Third, we look at how the wage and the employment structures of trading firms change with the country of destination and origin of trade flows. We find that wage and skill premia are influenced by the characteristics of partner countries.

Working Papers


Blanas, S. (2021, February), Age-Biased Offshoring and Technology

  • This paper studies the effects of offshoring on the relative demand for young (aged 15-29), middle-aged (30-49) and older (aged 50+) workers in the manufacturing and services sectors of developed countries, as well as the heterogeneous effects of offshoring across industries with different exposure to modern technologies (IT, CT, Software).

  • Previously circulated as "Offshoring and the Age-Skill Composition of Labour Demand" (LUMS Economics WP 2017)

Blanas, S. (2021, January), The Distinct Effects of Information Technologies and Communication Technologies on Skill Demand

  • This paper studies the distinct effects of IT and CT on the relative demand for skill by relying conceptually on the knowledge-based hierarchy theory.

  • Previously circulated as the "The Distinct Effects of Information Technologies and Communication Technologies on the Age-Skill Composition of Labour Demand" (NBB WP January 2019)

  • For a brief overview of this paper, you may watch this video, courtesy of the Communications and Events Office of the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca

Gnecco, G., Landi, S. & Riccaboni M. (2020) Can machines learn creativity needs in different occupations; presented by Sara Landi at the Workshop on Technology and the Labour Market, IMT - School for Advanced Studies Lucca, December 18th, 2020