The project "Firms and Workers at the crossroad: New Challenges for the Italian Economic Systems" is co-financed by Fondazione Caritro in the framework of the Call 'Ricerca e Sviluppo economico 2018' (2018.0258)  

The recent economic literature has uncovered a set of stylized facts such as the fall in the labour share of income, the slowdown in productivity and aggregate output, the diffusion of robotisation in production, and the uneven distribution of firms’ market power. Advances in production technologies and changes in market structures and in the bargaining relationships may link the increase in industry concentration to the decrease in the labour share of income. These concurrent phenomena may then increase inequality and polarise societies. Addressing such imbalances to achieve inclusive growth appears then an urgent priority, shared by policymakers, trade unions and business representatives. However, a better understanding of these phenomena is a necessary pre-condition to design appropriate actions. The project has two main objectives. The first is to document the evolution of market power of Italian firms and see how this relates to the above-mentioned imbalances. The second is to explore the effects of robotisation on the labour market. Robotisation can enhance labour productivity but also displace workers: what effect dominates requires further scrutiny. The value added of this project is the possibility of joining forces with local partners to address these issues from a national and regional perspective. The partnerships allow us to overcome the lack of evidence on the same topics in Italy and in Trentino and to ensure a long-lasting impact on the local economic system.

Research Team

Andrea Fracasso (PI), Mauro Caselli, Stefano Schiavo

Post-doc fellows

Jasmine Mondolo, Silvio Traverso

External Partners

ISPAT, CCIAA di Trento, CGIL del Trentino, UIL del Trentino

Public events and Seminars

• Jasmine Mondolo "Macroeconomic trends in Italy and in Trentino" in 6th meeting of the OECD Spatial Productivity Lab, 11 December 2019, OECD Trento Centre for Local Development, Trento, Italy
• Scientific Workshop, convened with the Group EMiL, "Firms and Workers at the Crossroad: Automation and Market Power", 21 December 2020, University of Trento
• Conclusive Partners' Meeting 'Firms and Workers at the Crossroad: Automation and Market Power', 7 May 2021, University of Trento (with the cooperation of OECD - LEED) 

Publications

• Caselli, Mauro, Fracasso, Andrea, Scicchitano, Sergio, Traverso, Silvio and Tundis, Enrico, (2021), Stop worrying and love the robot: An activity-based approach to assess the impact of robotization on employment dynamics, No 802, GLO Discussion Paper Series, Global Labor Organization (GLO), https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/802.html
• Jasmine Mondolo, 2020, "Macro and microeconomic evidence on investment, factor shares, firm and labor dynamics in Italy and in Trentino" SIS Working paper WP02/2020
• Jasmine Mondolo, 2020, "The evolution of technological change and its impact on workers. A survey of the literature" SIS Working paper 04/2020

Reports

• Robots and occupations: A new tasks/applications-based approach to measure local robot density, by M. Caselli, A. Fracasso, S. Traverso - September 2019 (in the download box)
• The Evolution of Product and Labour Market Power in Italy and the Impact of a Minimum Wage, by M. Caselli, J. Mondolo, S. Schiavo - May 2021 (in the download box)

Dissemination

• Mondolo J (2020) Dinamiche macroeconomiche in Italia e in Trentino, Economia Trentina, 2, pp.42-46
• Caselli M. e A. Fracasso (2021) Occupazione e robot nei mercati del lavoro italiani Economia Trentina, 2,  forthcoming
• Traverso S. (2021)  Friends or foes? Robot e dinamiche occupazionali in Italia nel corso dell’ultimo decennio. Blog LIW (link)

Related outcomes 

• Caselli, M. and Schiavo, S., Markups, Import Competition and Exporting, Asia Pacific Trade Seminars, University of Tokyo, June 29-30, 2019 (link)
• Fondazione Caritro Break talk - Andrea Fracasso 2020 Impatto della pandemia sull’economia regionale e strategie di rilancio
• Caselli, Fracasso, Traverso, 2020, Così il blocco delle attività ha ridotto il rischio contagio, Lavoce.info, 28.04.20
• Caselli, Fracasso, Traverso, 2020, Mitigation of risks of Covid-19 contagion and robotisation: Evidence from Italy, Covid Economics, 17(3), 174
• Caselli, Fracasso, Traverso, 2020 Robots and Mitigation of the Risk of Covid-19 Contagion in the Workplace: Some Evidence From Italy, EconPol Opinion 34, may 2020
• Caselli, Nesta, Schiavo 2021, Imports and labour market imperfections: firm-level evidence from France, European Economic Review 131, 103632

Follow-up projects

Progetto di Ateneo UniTrento 2021-2022: “Automation in times of Pandemics: Risks and Opportunities". PI: Mauro Caselli