Prof. Dr. Marco Vivarelli


Professorial fellow

Research group(s):
8. Population, Development and Labour Economics

Marco Vivarelli, (https://sites.google.com/site/mvivarel/), Ph.D. in Economics and Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy, is full professor at the Catholic University of Milano, where he is also Director of the Department of Economic Policy.

He is Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht; Research Fellow at IZA, Bonn; Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). He is member of the Scientific Executive Board  of  the Eurasia Business and  Economics Society (EBES, Istanbul); member of the International Board  of  the Austrian  Institute of Economic Research (WIFO, Vienna) and has been scientific consultant for the  International Labour Office (ILO), World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization  (UNIDO) and the European Commission.

He is Editor-in-Chief of the Eurasian Business Review, Editor of Small Business Economics, Associate Editor of Industrial and Corporate Change, Associate Editor of Economics E-Journal, member of the Editorial Board of Sustainability and he has served as referee for more than 80 international journals.

He is author/editor of various books and his papers have been published in journals such as Cambridge Journal of Economics,  Canadian Journal of Economics, Economics Letters, Industrial and Corporate Change, International Journal of Industrial Organization,  Journal of Economics, Journal of Evolutionary   Economics,  Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Labour Economics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Regional Studies, Research Policy, Small Business Economics, Southern Economic Journal, World Bank Research Observer, World Development.

His current research interests include the relationship between innovation, employment and skills; the labour market and income distribution impacts of globalization; the entry and post-entry performance of newborn firms.




Selected publications by Marco Vivarelli


Articles (journal, professional, popular)
Dawid, Herbert, Gabriele Pellegrino & Marco Vivarelli, 2021, The role of demand in fostering product vs process innovation: a model and an empirical test, Journal of Evolutionary Economics volume, 31: 1553-1572, DOI: 10.1007/s00191-020-00695-3, More information
Ugur, Mehmet & Marco Vivarelli, 2021, Innovation, firm survival and productivity: the state of the art, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 30(5): 433-467, DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2020.1828509, More information
Arouri, Hassan, Adel Ben Youssef, Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2020, Drivers of Growth in Tunisia: Young Firms vs Incumbents, Small Business Economics, 54: 323-340
Barbieri, Laura, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019, R&D, embodied technological change, and employment: evidence from Italian microdata, Industrial and Corporate Change, 28(1): 203-218, More information
Pellegrino, Gabriele, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019, Beyond R&D: the role of embodied technological change in affecting employment, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 29(4): 1151-1171, More information
Castellani, Davide, Mariacristina Piva, Torben Schubert & Marco Vivarelli, 2019, R&D and productivity in the US and the EU: Sectoral specificities and differences in the crisis, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 138: 279-291, DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.10.001, More information
Piva, Mariacristina & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Is Innovation Destroying Jobs? Firm-Level Evidence from the EU, Sustainability, 10(4): 1279-, DOI: 10.3390/su10041279, More information
Castellani, Davide, Mariacristina Piva, Torben Schubert & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Can European Productivity Make Progress?, Intereconomics, 53(2): 75-78
Piva, Mariacristina & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Technological Change and Employment: Is Europe Ready for the Challenge?, Eurasian Business Review, 8(1): 13-32, DOI: 10.1007/s40821-017-0100-x, More information
Piva, Mariacristina, Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Knowledge Diffusion and Productivity, Journal of Population Economics, 31: 1321-1338
Van Roy, Vincent, Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms, Research Policy, 47(9): 1762-1776, DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2018.06.008, More information
Piva, Mariacristina, Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Business visits, knowledge diffusion and productivity, Journal of Population Economics, 31(4): 1321-1338, DOI: 10.1007/s00148-017-0679-3, More information
Colombo, Luca, Herbert Dawid, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Does Easy Start-Up Formation Hamper Incumbents' R&D Investment?, Small Business Economics, 49: 513-531
Haile, Getinet, Ilina Srour & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Imported technology and manufacturing employment in Ethiopia, Eurasian Business Review, 7(1): 1-23, More information
Colombo, Luca, Herbert Dawid, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Does easy start-up formation hamper incumbents’ R&D investment?, Small Business Economics, 49(3): 513-531, More information
Colombelli , Alessandra, Jackie Krafft & Marco Vivarelli, 2016, To Be Born Is Not Enough: The Key Role of Innovative Startups, Small Business Economics, 47: 277-291
Meschi, Elena, E. Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2016, Globalization, Technological Change and Labor Demand: A Firm Level Analysis for Turkey, Review of World Economics, 152: 655-680
Vivarelli, Marco, 2016, The middle income trap: a way out based on technological and structural change, Economic Change and Restructuring, 49(2): 159-193, DOI: 10.1007/s10644-015-9166-6, More information
Meschi, Elena, Erol Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2016, Globalization, technological change and labor demand: a firm-level analysis for Turkey, Review of World Economics, 152(4): 655-680, DOI: 10.1007/s10290-016-0256-y, More information
Colombelli , Alessandra, Jackie Krafft & Marco Vivarelli, 2016, To be born is not enough: the key role of innovative start-ups, Small Business Economics, 47(2): 277-291, DOI: 10.1007/s11187-016-9716-y, More information
Quatraro, Francesco & Marco Vivarelli, 2015, Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries, World Bank Research Observer, 30: 277-305
García-Quevedo, José, Gabriele Pellegrino & Marco Vivarelli, 2014, R&D Drivers and Age: Are Young Firms Different?, Research Policy, 43: 1544-1556
Ortega-Argilés, R., Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2014, The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: Is R&D the Main Culprit?, Canadian Journal of Economics, 47: 1342-1371
Vivarelli, Marco, 2013, Is Entrepreneurship Necessarily Good? Microeconomic Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries, Industrial and Corporate Change, 22: 1453-1495
Bogliacino, F., Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2012, R&D and Employment: An Application of the LSDVC Estimator Using European Data, Economics Letters, 116: 56-59
Kumbhakar, S.C., R. Ortega-Argilés, L. Potters, Marco Vivarelli & P. Voigt, 2012, Corporate R&D and Firm Efficiency: Evidence from Europe’s Top R&D Investors, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 37: 125-140
Iammarino, S., Mariacristina Piva, Marco Vivarelli & N. von Tunzelman, 2012, Technological Capabilities and Patterns of Innovative Cooperation of Firms in the UK Regions, Regional Studies, 46: 1283-1301


Book chapters
Barbieri, Laura, Chiara Mussida, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2020, Testing the Employment and Skill Impact of New Technologies, in: Zimmermann, K.F, Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics, Springer, Cam, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_1-1


UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Corrocher, Nicoletta, Daniele Moschella, Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2023, Innovation and the labor market: Theory, evidence and challenges, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2023-021
Guerzoni, Marco, Luigi Riso & Marco Vivarelli, 2023, Was Robert Gibrat right? A test based on the graphical model methodology, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2023-006
Montobbio, Fabio, Jacopo Staccioli, Maria Enrica Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2022, The empirics of technology, employment and occupations: Lessons learned and challenges ahead, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2022-037
Santarelli, Enrico, Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2022, Automation and related technologies: A mapping of the new knowledge base, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2022-003
Montobbio, Fabio, Jacopo Staccioli, Maria Enrica Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2021, Labour-saving automation and occupational exposure: A text-similarity measure, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2021-044
Damioli, Giacomo, Vincent Van Roy, Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2021, Will the AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2021-016
Ugur, Mehmet & Marco Vivarelli, 2020, The role of innovation in industrial dynamics and productivity growth: a survey of the literature, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2020-038
Piva, Mariacristina, Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2020, The productivity impact of business visits across industries, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2020-011
Montobbio, Fabio, Jacopo Staccioli, E. Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2020, Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2020-007
Barbieri, Laura, Chiara Mussida, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019, Testing the employment and skill impact of new technologies: A survey and some methodological issues, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2019-032
Dosi, G., Mariacristina Piva, E. Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2019, Embodied and disembodied technological change: the sectoral patterns of job-creation and job-destruction, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2019-020
Vivarelli, Marco, 2018, Globalisation, structural change and innovation in emerging economies: The impact on employment and skills, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2018-037
Pellegrino, Gabriele, Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, R&D, embodied technological change and employment: Evidence from Spain, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2018-024
Arouri, Hassan, Adel Ben Youssef, Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2018, Drivers of growth in Tunisia: Young firms vs incumbents, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2018-019
Dawid, Herbert, Gabriele Pellegrino & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Is the demand-pull driver equally crucial for product vs process innovation?, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2017-035
Piva, Mariacristina & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Is innovation destroying jobs? Firm-level evidence from the EU, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2017-013
Piva, Mariacristina, Massimiliano Tani & Marco Vivarelli, 2017, Labour mobility through business visits as a way to foster productivity, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2017-004
Meschi, Elena, Erol Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2016, Globalisation, technology and the labour market: A microeconometric analysis for Turkey, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2016-026


UNU-MERIT