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Professor Filippo di Mauro, PhD

Current Position

since 1/19

Economist

Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) - Member of the Leibniz Association

since 01/12

Chairman

The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet)

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Research Interests
  • productivity reallocation
  • resource reallocation

Filippo di Mauro serves at IWH as chairman of CompNet. His present research focuses on productivity and resource reallocation using firm level data and modelling global linkages, including global value chains.

An economics graduate of University of Rome, Filippo di Mauro holds an MA and a PhD in Economics, from the University of Chicago and the American University, respectively.

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Professor Filippo di Mauro, PhD
- Department Structural Change and Productivity
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Publications

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European Firm Concentration and Aggregate Productivity

Tommaso Bighelli Filippo di Mauro Marc Melitz Matthias Mertens

in: Journal of the European Economic Association, No. 2, 2023

Abstract

This paper derives a European Herfindahl–Hirschman concentration index from 15 micro-aggregated country datasets. In the last decade, European concentration rose due to a reallocation of economic activity toward large and concentrated industries. Over the same period, productivity gains from an increasing allocative efficiency of the European market accounted for 50% of European productivity growth while markups stayed constant. Using country-industry variation, we show that changes in concentration are positively associated with changes in productivity and allocative efficiency. This holds across most sectors and countries and supports the notion that rising concentration in Europe reflects a more efficient market environment rather than weak competition and rising market power.

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Promoting Higher Productivity in China — Does Innovation Expenditure Really Matter?

Hoang Minh Duy Filippo di Mauro Jo Van Biesebroeck

in: Singapore Economic Review, No. 5, 2020

Abstract

The slowing down of the global economy adds additional challenges to China? economic policies as the country orchestrates its transition to lower resource dependency and higher technology intensity of output. Are policies aimed at technologically advanced sectors the right answer? Drawing from a newly created dataset of firms? balance sheets over the period 1998?2013, matched with patents data until 2009, we uncover that expenditure in innovation had limited effect on boosting productivity, without generating a clear gain in overall productivity for the high-tech sector. As a matter of fact, there is a much higher dispersion in productivity outcomes in firms belonging to the low-technology sectors, which derives from a bunch of champions in those sectors scoring higher productivity dynamics than in the High-technology sectors. The paper finds those barriers to entry and in general, market power of incumbents in the high-tech generate less than optimal resource reallocation, which hampers the overall productivity. Policies should presumably aim at removing such obstacles rather than solely promote innovation expenditure.

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Special Issue on Productivity: Introduction

Filippo di Mauro

in: Singapore Economic Review, No. 5, 2020

Abstract

At the time we write this introduction, the world is entering a second phase of the COVID-pandemic, where all countries in the world attempt to gradually reopen after the tremendous shock on lives and economic activity. The focus of the policies right now is very much on short-term interventions aimed at alleviating the financial strains on households and firms, thus fostering a quicker recovery. In the medium and long-term perspective, however, it would be essential to parallel such policies with appropriate interventions aimed at strengthening the aggregate productivity of the economy, with the objective of increasing resilience and foster more solid growth foundations.

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Working Papers

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Reassessing EU Comparative Advantage: The Role of Technology

Filippo di Mauro Marco Matani Gianmarco Ottaviano

in: IWH Discussion Papers, No. 26, 2024

Abstract

<p>Based on the sufficient statistics approach developed by Huang and Ottaviano (2024), we show how the state of technology of European industries relative to the rest of the world can be empirically assessed in a way that is simple in terms of computation, parsimonious in terms of data requirements, but still comprehensive in terms of information. The lack of systematic cross-industry correlation between export specialization and technological advantage suggests that standard measures of revealed comparative advantage only imperfectly capture a country’s technological prowess due to the concurrent influences of factor prices, market size, markups, firm selection and market share reallocation.</p>

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Microdata for Economic Research in Europe: Challenges and Proposals

Eric Bartelsman Marco Matani Filippo di Mauro Sergio Inferrera Ugo Panizza Michael Polder

in: CEPR, No. 18640, 2023

Abstract

While access to high-quality microdata is essential for economic research and policy evaluation, effective access to such data remains limited in Europe. It varies from country to country, with uneven information on access procedures. This is a major obstacle to social science research, including research on European competitiveness and the effects of climate change, inequality, globalization, and digitalization. The objective of this paper, which is based on a brainstorming exercise coordinated by CEPR and CompNet, is to assess the status quo and discuss a series of proposals for improving access to Microdata for economic research. We underline the need for developing the relevant tools for extended access to and use of European business statistics microdata. Building such tools entails both establishing the requested microdata and creating a body facilitating cross-country access to the established databases with harmonized content.

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Productivity and Employment in APAC Economies: A Comparison With the EU Using Firm-Level Information

Hoang Minh Duy Filippo di Mauro Peter Morgan

in: ADBI Working Paper, No. 1264, 2021

Abstract

We provide an overview of productivity development and other related indicators in Asia and Pacific (APAC) countries, with comparisons with the Europe region. We use the seventh vintage firm-level data from the Productivity Research Network in the APAC region and CompNet in Europe for our study. The overall results show that the productivity growth in developed APAC countries (Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea) is significantly ahead of the growth in developing APAC countries (India and the People’s Republic of China) and on par with the EU’s growth. There is an ongoing process of bottom firms catching up with top firms in the Republic of Korea and the richest EU countries. Regarding employment and labor skills, employment growth has generally been quite stagnant in all regions. Labor skills, for which we use the wage premium as a proxy, are quite similar across most regions, with the richest EU countries showing a higher premium than the rest. Our test of the productivity–employment link indicates that the size of employment tends to have a greater impact on productivity in APAC countries, while labor skills have greater emphasis in the EU.

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