We look at business survey data to investigate characteristics and performances of internationalized Italian firms since the outbreak of the 2008 crisis until 2012. An increasing share of Italian firms with 20 employees or more owns a foreign productive unit (from 7.1 to 13.2% between 2006 and 2011). The main reason for locating units in advanced countries is to be close to outlet markets, this remains true for developing countries (where nearly half of such units were located), even though in this case the search for lower costs becomes more important. Italian multinationals are on average more productive and profitable, even when compared to exporting firms not operating abroad. The productivity gap compared to other exporters is 15 percent, in line with estimates by Helpman et al. (2004) on a sample of US firms. Since 2008, Italian multinationals have had operating profit and planned expansion both in Italy and abroad well above the average. In firms’ opinion, there is room to improve the effectiveness of the support given to foreign expansion by Italian public institutions.
Published in 2015 in: Politica economica - Journal of Economic Policy, 31, 3, pp. 315-354
