Ricerc@Sapienza

Financial frictions can have relevant effects on firms' strategic decisions. Despite the relevance of this topic for economists and policy makers, we still have limited understanding of whether financial factors can shape the organization of firms' domestic and international activities.

This project aims to provide novel insights on how firms deal with financial constraints and the impact on international trade.

First, we will investigate firms' strategic responses to financial frictions. We will explore whether credit restrictions amplify the negative effects of the pandemic and test whether constrained firms plan to charge higher prices relative to their unconstrained counterparts. Then, we will analyze the impact of financial constraints on open innovation practices in small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, we will study how the interaction between political instability and credit availability affects firms' performance in developed and developing countries. Second, we will explore the link between firms' financial constraints and international activities. By analyzing a large sample of European firms, we will investigate whether firms exporting their production abroad and companies involved in global value chains are more likely to be credit restricted by banks. Finally, we will dig deeper into the international trade literature and investigate the relationship between firms' international activities and technological innovation. In particular, we will first examine how China's import competition affects Italian firms¿ product and process innovation and the mediating role of unions. Then, by adopting a country-level perspective, we will analyze whether technological infrastructures (internet connection) impact on firms' export decisions in both developed and developing countries.