The Empirical Microeconomics Laboratory (EMiL) carries out a wide range of research activities in the general fields of empirical microeconomics. The aim of the Laboratory is to promote empirical research with sound theoretical foundations. Research within the group adopts a microeconomic perspective using households, individual firms, sectoral and regional data.
Currently, the group has ongoing projects in two main areas of research, both relating to the application of appropriate econometric methods and models for the analysis of economic data. These areas are:
Industrial dynamics and firms’ heterogeneity
This area of research aims to investigate the firm-level dynamics underlying the aggregate trend, keeping into account the substantial heterogeneity observed in firms’ behavior both across and within industries. Within this area, the focus is on three main research topics. (1) Productivity analysis: the estimation of firm-level productivity and markups, and the role of resource misallocation on aggregate productivity. (2) Firms in international markets: the relationship between firms’ performance and their access to international markets, by means of either trade or foreign direct investments. (3) Firms’ financial constraints: the issue of firms’ access to external financial resources and its impact on corporate strategies and performances.
Household choices and welfare analysis
This area of research focuses on household choices regarding consumption and labour supply, and on the effects of changing economic conditions or other types of shocks on household welfare. Research includes: intertemporal consumption decisions in the presence of income or unemployment risk; labour supply decisions within the household with particular attention to youth labour market outcomes and gender differences; differences in household welfare across cohorts or other household characteristics (e.g. members’ health).