Firm growth, R&D expenditures and exports: An empirical analysis of italian SMEs

We study firms' export and R&D activities and their effects on employment growth and worker flows for a sample of Italian SMEs operating in the manufacturing industry. After accounting for the under-reporting of R&D in SMEs, our quantile regressions reveal that: (i) R&D is associated with higher employment growth rates, higher hiring rates and lower separation rates; (ii) R&D-induced exports are negatively related to firm employment growth and hirings and positively related to separations; and (iii) pure exports are not a driver of employment growth and worker flows.