Title page
Contents
Abstract 2
Executive summary 4
1. Introduction 6
2. Previous literature on firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 8
3. The data used in this study 11
4. Firm innovativeness and firm exit during the COVID-19 pandemic 12
4.1. The main correlates of patent-filling 12
4.2. The differential survival rate of patent-filling firms 14
4.3. The characteristics of firms during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic 16
4.4. The direct effect of being innovative on firm resilience 19
5. Patent intensity and the margins of firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 24
5.1. The extensive margin of firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 24
5.1.1. Direct effects of patent intensity on the extensive margin of firm resilience 25
5.1.2. Conditional effects of patent intensity on the extensive margin of firm resilience 27
5.2. The intensive margin of firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 32
5.2.1. Direct effects of patent intensity on the intensive margin of firm resilience 32
5.2.2. Conditional effects of patent intensity on the intensive margin of firm resilience 34
6. The productivity of innovative firms during the COVID-19 pandemic 38
7. Policy implications 42
References 44
Appendix 48
Table 1. Patent-filling and firm-level characteristics 13
Table 2. Characteristics of firms before and after the first two years of the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) 17
Table 3. Estimated direct effect of innovativeness on firm exit during the COVID-19 pandemic 21
Table 4. Estimated direct effect of innovativeness on TFP % changes before/after the COVID-19 pandemic 42
Figure 1. Differential survival rates with respect to firms with empty patent portfolios during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) 15
Figure 2. Differences between the average survival rates by 4-digit NACE and the overall survival rate of non-patenting firms plotted against... 15
Figure 3. Lorentz curve of patents before and after the COVID-19 shock (2018-19 vs 2020-21) 17
Figure 4. Lorentz curve of patents by macro-region before and after the COVID-19 shock (2018-19 vs 2020-21) 18
Figure 5. Lorentz curve of patents by macro-sector before and after the COVID-19 shock (2018-19 vs 2020-21) 18
Figure 6. Direct effects of innovation variables on firm closure during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) 25
Figure 7. Effects of patent intensity on firm closure during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to R&D and intangibles 28
Figure 8. Effects of patent intensity on firm closure during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to firm age and size 29
Figure 9. Effects of patent intensity on firm closure during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to area and sector of activity 30
Figure 10. Effects of patent intensity on firm closure during the COVID-19 shock conditional to the patenting rate by 4-digit NACE 32
Figure 11. Direct effects of innovation variables on firm revenues during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) 33
Figure 12. Effects of patent intensity on firm revenues during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to R&D and intangibles 35
Figure 13. Effects of patent intensity on firm revenues during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to firm age and size 36
Figure 14. Effects of patent intensity on firm revenues during the COVID-19 shock (2020-21) conditional to area and sector of activity 37
Figure 15. Effects of patent intensity on firm revenues during the COVID-19 shock conditional to the patenting rate by 4-digit NACE 37
Figure 16. Average TFP differential between innovative and non-innovative firms 39
Figure 17. TFP distributions of innovative and non-innovative firms during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) 41
Table A1. Analysis of the extensive and intensive margins of resilience: regression results 52
Table A2. Estimated direct effects of the unweighted number of patents on firm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic 53
Table A3. Legend for sector and area abbreviations 54
Table A4. List of countries covered in the study (in alphabetic order by 2-digit code) 55