vittorino.giovanni@spes.uniud.it

tel. +39 0432 24 9352

(Supervisor Clara Graziano)

Banks’ characteristics and risk taking behaviour in Italy.

The purpose of my dissertation is to achieve an empirical understanding of the innovation activity of firms within the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

First, our aim is to empirically assess the relationship between the intensity of firms’ engagement in innovative activities and self-reported obstacles to innovation during the unfolding of the recent economic and financial downturns. The analysis is grounded on a unique dataset that contains firm-level balance sheet data as well as information drawn from the 2008-2010 and 2010-12 waves of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for a representative sample of firms established in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Second, for the span 2010-2015, we study the differences in capital structure between innovation-active and innovation-inactive firms located in Friuli Venezia Giulia. We rely on a unique dataset matching firm-level financial statement data with information on firms’ innovation propensity drawn from CIS data. We assess the preference for internal funds for innovative firms by testing for the sensitivity of physical investments to cash flow.

Finally, I provide a literature review of the existing literature on the determinants of innovation and a descriptive analysis of the Friuli Venezia Giulia system of innovation based on CIS data.