Marina Di Giacomo
Assistant Professor
Department of Economics and Finance,
School of Economics,
University of Turin,
Italy
digiacomo@econ.unito.it
Contact details Publications Teaching Complete CV: Italiano - English
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Marina Di Giacomo Assistant Professor Department of Economics and Finance,
School of Economics,
University of Turin,
Italy
Contact details Publications Teaching Complete CV: Italiano - English |
Dipartimento
di Scienze Economiche e Finanziarie "G. Prato"
Università
di Torino - Facoltà di Economia
Corso Unione Sovietica
218bis
10134 TORINO (Italy)
Phone: +39 011 670 6074
Fax: +39 011 670 6062
Hermes Research Centre (Higher Education and Research on Mobility Regulation and the Economics of Local Services)
Collegio Carlo Alberto
Via Real Collegio, 30
10024 Moncalieri (Torino), Italy
Research Interests
Applied Economics, Industrial Economics, Venture Capital and the Financing of Innovative Firms, Regulation.
"The relevance of scale and scope economies in the provision of urban and intercity bus transport," forthcoming Journal of Transport, Economics and Policy, 2009 (joint with E. Ottoz). download
"White Certificates in the Italian energy oligopoly market," forthcoming Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, (joint with V. Oikonomou, D. Russolillo and F. Becchis).
"The Impact of Ownership on the Cost of Bus Service Provision: An example from Piedmont," Applied Economics, 41(3), 2009, p. 337-349 (joint with E. Ottoz and G. Fornengo). abstract
"GMM Estimation of a Structural Demand Model for Yogurt and the Effects of the Introduction of New Brands," Empirical Economics, 34(3), 2008, p. 537-565. abstract
"Empirical Analysis of Markets with Differentiated Products: The Characteristics Approach," Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia, 63(2), 2004, p. 243-288. abstract
"Public Support to Entrepreneurial Firms: An Assessment of the Role of Venture Capital in the European Experience," Journal of Private Equity, 8(1), winter 2004, p. 22-38. abstract
"Occupazione e innovazione. Verifica empirica su un campione di imprese manifatturiere italiane," in G. Zanetti (ed.), Produttività ed occupazione: risultati di ricerche empiriche, Quaderni di economia del lavoro n. 69, 2000, Franco Angeli, Milano. abstract
"Peso della regolamentazione in Italia ed efficacia degli strumenti di intervento," l’Industria, 21(4), 2000, p. 675-706, (joint with G. Fraquelli).
Research in Progress
Corporate taxation and the size of new firms: evidence from Europe, CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2009-72 (joint with Marco Da Rin and Alessandro Sembenelli). download
Are "flexible" taxation mechanisms effective in stabilizing fuel prices? A fiscal policy evaluation considering the Italian fuel markets, Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato", University of Torino, Working paper n. 7 - 2009 (joint with Massimiliano Piacenza and Gilberto Turati). download
Entrepreneurship, firm entry and the taxation of corporate income: Evidence from Europe, CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2009-61 (joint with Marco Da Rin and Alessandro Sembenelli). download
Diversification strategies and scope economies: Evidence from a sample of Italian regional bus transportation providers, Department of Economics "Cognetti De Martiis" Working Paper n. 02/2008 (joint with Elisabetta Ottoz). download
What can we learn from merger simulations? An application of logit models to the yogurt industry, 2008.
Endogenous Matching and the Performance of Venture Capital Backed Firms, 2008 (joint with Marco Da Rin and Alessandro Sembenelli).
Lecturer in Microeconomia (Microeconomics): course homepage
Lecturer in Econometrics: course homepage
The impact of ownership on the cost of bus service provision: an example from Italy
Abstract
The paper examines the potential impact of ownership on the cost of bus service provision for a sample of 65 private and 12 public companies providing local public transit (LTP) in Piedmont (Italy) from 1998 to 2002. A translog cost frontier is estimated using the model in Battese and Coelli (1995) where inefficiency scores are allowed to vary across firms and over time. A public ownership dummy is included in the inefficiency model and it is always positive and significant pointing to higher inefficiencies for public companies.
Density and scale economies and cost inefficiencies are then computed. Private companies seem to experience higher density and scale economies than public ones. Cost inefficiencies appear higher in the public sample.
JEL Classification: C1, L33, L92.
Keywords: Public transport, ownership, cost frontier.
GMM Estimation of a Structural Demand Model for Yogurt and the Effects of the Introduction of New Brands
Abstract
The demand structure for yogurt is assumed to be properly described by a one level nested logit model that is applied to aggregate market data. Given the presence of endogenous regressors, suitably lagged endogenous variables (Arellando and Bover, 1995; Blundell and Bond, 1998) are proposed as instrumental variables.
The validity of this set of instruments is discussed and price elasticities and marginal costs are recovered from the demand estimates.
Total welfare gains associated to the introduction of two new brands by the same manufacturer are finally computed. Prices and profits decreased and total welfare increased.
Keywords: Nested Logit, GMM, Yogurt, Instrumental Variables, New Products.
Empirical Analysis of Markets with
Differentiated Products: The Characteristics Approach
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to survey the recent empirical IO literature analysing differentiated products markets. The focus is restricted to the discrete choice approach that is carefully described and some recent applications of the full random coefficients model are analysed.
The full random coefficients model is based on a characteristic approach: utility of each consumer is function of a limited number of relevant characteristics of the differentiated products. Allowing for interaction between consumer and product attributes, own and cross price elasticities are not driven by market shares as in the pure logit framework. The satisfactory substitution patterns, the availability of new sources of data, the possibility of avoiding detailed information on the cost side explain much of the popularity this kind of model is gaining among researchers.
The model allows for a wide range of policy analysis: impact of regulatory decisions, consequences of the introduction of taxes and subsidies, effects of mergers, benefits from the introduction of new goods, international trade policy, construction of "ideal" price indexes.
The main limitations are its static short run nature, some restrictive functional forms for utility and some computational complexities which do not allow for a widespread application of the method.
JEL Classification: C25, D12, L11, L13.
Keywords: Discrete Choice Models, Differentiated Products, Empirical Analysis, Oligopoly.
Abstract
International institutions and governments are aware of the financing problems small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) encounter in modern economies.
Public intervention in the equity market (either directly, through public provision of funds to the venture capital market, or indirectly, through regulatory reforms and tax incentives) is mainly justified by the existence of market failures in the financing of some categories of firms.
The aim of this paper is to survey the main European public policies in the venture capital market. The focus on equity capital is justified by the importance it has in recent EU programmes (e.g. the Risk Capital Action Plan, dating back to 1999) and the positive impacts US public intervention in this market had on job creation and growth. In particular examples of direct government involvement in the venture capital markets through public funds commitments are considered and compared.
Gli effetti occupazionali dell’innovazione. Verifica empirica su un campione di imprese manifatturiere italiane -
The Employment Effects of Innovation.
Evidence from a Sample of Italian Manufacturing Firms
Abstract
This paper deals with a controversial question: Can innovation create unemployment?
Theoretical frameworks and empirical evidences on that topic provide quite different results, depending on the socio-economic and institutional contest where the innovation is introduced and the type of technological change (process vs. product).
In our empirical evidence we used a database with information on sales, investments, R&D, product and process innovation and number of employees of about 3000 Italian manufacturing firms. The database covers the period 1992-94. Employment grows in technological advanced industries with respect to traditional industries. The econometric analysis suggests that there are some differences in the behaviour of firms in different regions of Italy. Firms in North East of Italy have better performances than other firms and medium-small firms increased their employment. In particular high R&D expenditures have a negative impact on employment. Big firms spend more in R&D and lose employees in the three years. Investments oriented to increase productive capacity have a positive impact on employment.
JEL Classification: J21, O33, L11.
Keywords : Innovation and Employment, Impact of Technological Change.
Last update 22/10/2009