@techreport{IacovonePereiraLopezSchiffbauer, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana and Schiffbauer, Marc}, title = {Competition makes it better: Evidence on when firms use it more effectively}, pages = {45}, abstract = {This paper uses a unique firm-level data set for Mexico, with information never used for research before, to assess how use of information technology (IT henceforth) influences firm performance. Further, the paper explores if, in the context of increasing competition from China, this effect is different for firms more strongly affected by competition where incentives for upgrading and innovation may be more intense. In this perspective, the paper analyzes the complementarity between IT and other changes spurred by competition, taking advantage of the exogenous shock generated by Chinese competition. The results indicate that IT use has higher effects over productivity in the case of firms facing higher competition from China, in the domestic market and in the U.S. market. Furthermore, the paper shows how these changes appear to be driven by complementary investments in innovation and organizational changes.}, language = {en} } @techreport{IacovonePereiraLopezSchiffbauer, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana and Schiffbauer, Marc}, title = {ICT use, competitive pressures and firm performance in Mexico}, series = {Policy Research Working Papers}, journal = {Policy Research Working Papers}, edition = {April 2016}, doi = {10.1596/1813-9450-7629}, abstract = {This paper presents a set of stylized facts on the relation between information and communications technology (ICT) use, firm performance, and competition. Taking advantage of a novel firm-level data set on information and communications technology for Mexico, the study finds that firms facing higher competition appear to have more incentives to increase their use of information and communications technology. Accordingly, although there is indeed a positive relation between information and communications technology use and firm performance, this effect is greater for firms that face higher competition pressures, which is consistent with the theoretical predictions of the trade-induced technical change hypothesis.}, language = {en} } @techreport{IacovonePereiraLopez, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana}, title = {ICT Adoption and Wage Inequality: Evidence from Mexican Firms}, series = {Policy Research working paper}, journal = {Policy Research working paper}, edition = {WPS 8298}, address = {Washington, D.C.}, abstract = {This paper uses a panel of firms from the Mexican Economic Censuses and analyzes at the microeconomic level how labor markets adapt to the adoption of information and communication technologies. The paper studies the effects of the adoption of information and communication technologies over the labor structure of the firm and wages. Thus, it assesses whether increasing the use of information and communication technologies leads to an increasing demand for skilled relative to low-skilled labor, and, thus, analyzes its effects on the wage gap between the two groups. The results of this analysis show that there is indeed an effect of the adoption of information and communication technologies over the demand for higher-skilled workers. However, for the manufacturing and services sectors, instead of increasing the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers, the wage gap decreases. The results for the manufacturing sector appear to be driven by an increasing sophistication of blue-collar workers due to the organizational adjustments derived from the adoption of information and communication technologies.}, language = {de} } @techreport{IacovoneCoutinoPereiraLopez, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Coutino, Pablo Gordillo and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana}, title = {Robots at the Tropics}, abstract = {In recent years, a growing concern has emerged regarding the potential effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotization on firms, and even more specifically on workers and the risks for their displacement (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014; Acemoglu and Restrepo, 2017; Graetz and Michaels, 2015, among others). The emphasis of current research studies has been driven by the rapid decrease in the prices of robots, that according to Graetz and Michaels (2015) fell by 2005 to one fifth of its 1990 level adjusting for quality. Consequently, utilization of robots has increased in a wide range of different industries, with the operational stock of robots doubled between 2005 and 2016, reaching 1,828,024 units by the end of 2016 and expected to reach three millions by 2020 (International Federation of Robotics, 2017). The evidence on the impact of robots on the global economy is still very limited and the results of recent studies exhibit great differences. For example, while Frey and Osborne (2017) indicate that the number of jobs that are in risk of automation could account for around 50\%, Arntz et al.(2017) argue that this figure is overestimated due to the fact that the heterogeneity of tasks within occupations is not considered, which would reduce this number to around 9\%.}, language = {en} } @article{IacovoneFerroPereiraLopezetal., author = {Iacovone, Leonardo and Ferro, Esteban and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana and Zavacka, Veronika}, title = {Banking crises and exports: Lessons from the past}, series = {Journal of Development Economics}, journal = {Journal of Development Economics}, number = {138}, doi = {10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.12.005}, pages = {192 -- 204}, abstract = {This paper analyzes the impact of banking crises on manufacturing exports, exploiting the fact that sectors differ in their needs for external financing. Relying on data from 160 developed and developing countries during 1970-2012, we analyze 147 banking crisis episodes and separate their impact on export growth from the impact of other exogenous shocks (e.g., demand shocks, exchange rate shocks). Our findings show that during a crisis, the exports of sectors more dependent on external finance grow significantly less than other sectors. However, this result holds only for sectors that depend on banking finance as opposed to interfirm finance (i.e., trade finance or trade credit). For sectors that depend heavily on banking finance, the effect of banking crises on exports is robust, additional to external demand shocks, and not driven by exchange rate shocks.}, language = {en} } @techreport{CaliCantoreIacovoneetal., type = {Working Paper}, author = {Cali, Massimiliano and Cantore, Nicola and Iacovone, Leonardo and Pereira-L{\´o}pez, Mariana and Presidente, Giorgio}, title = {Too Much Energy The Perverse Effect of Low Fuel Prices on Firms}, pages = {47}, language = {en} }