This article analyzes spatial autocorrelations and the formation of clusters of exports, based on Research and Development (R&D) intensity in Portugal. The central idea is that exports show relative interdependence and spillover effects among nearby regions and a direct relationship with R&D expenditures. It adopts the new taxonomy of the OECD, separating exports by manufacturing and non-manufacturing activities. Methodologically, is was used Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA), utilizing Global Moran's Index and LISA. The results showed the presence of positive spatial autocorrelation of exports and the formation of a cluster of the High-High type for the Porto metropolitan region and Aveiro region. There was no confirmation of positive spatial autocorrelation for R&D expenditures among the regions of Portugal. However, there was both a positive spatial autocorrelation for exports associated with R&D expenditures as well as the formation of a regional cluster with high-high pattern for the Aveiro region. This outcome can be explained, in part, by nationally and internationally recognized universities and research centers surrounding the region, favoring knowledge spillovers across the regions.

In most advanced economies productivity growth has been hampered by barriers that allow zombie firms to survive. We examine the effectiveness of institutional reforms in Portugal that were aimed to improve efficiency in insolvency framework. Estimates show that reallocation barriers declined. The reforms appear to have larger and more effective results in zombie recovery than in exit. Firm size plays a major role in tackling zombie-entrenchment. The decline in barriers has also implied a lower distortion in the economy-wide selection process. The new setting seems to be more desirable than forcing zombie exit at all costs.

Increasing evidence shows that business dynamism has weakened in most developed economies. However, except for the US literature, most previous research has only portrayed the new century’s changes in firm dynamics. Instead, we focus on a longer period, 1986-2018, assembling an extensive longitudinal database with a time-consistent industry classification covering the population of Portuguese firms in the manufacturing and service sectors. The Bai-Perron estimate for unknown break dates in time series indicates two structural changes in industrial dynamics, one in its ascending wave (1993) and another in the declining phase (2003). Accordingly, our (HP) estimated trends show that, after an initial period of intense creative destruction, firm dynamics have become less turbulent since 2003, with lower entry, declined job reallocation, and decreased growth rates. Furthermore, survival and counterfactual firm-level regressions suggest that an otherwise-equal post-2003 start-up faced a significantly higher exit hazard than its pre-1993 counterpart (i.e., without any structural change). As a result, new and young companies have seen their share in aggregate employment and net job creation decline, notwithstanding the increasingly higher performance of young, high-growth firms. Lower labour and firm turnover suggest a weakened contribution of reallocation to productivity growth. On the other hand, decreased entry and the higher exit hazard have likely undermined the disruptive potential of transformative entrepreneurship

In this study, we investigate the impact of the share of the foreign labor force on the labor productivity of firms operating in Portugal between 2010 and 2019, drawing on data from two main sources: linked employer-employee data from Quadros de Pessoal and firm-level balance sheet data from SCIE-Sistema de Contas Integradas das Empresas. The empirical analysis, conducted using Fixed Effects Two-Stage Least Squares, shows that immigrants do not contribute to the productivity of firms in which they are employed. We further investigate whether the productivity response to increased immigrant labor varies across different subsamples. Notably, low-productivity firms experience adverse effects when the share of immigrants rises, whereas smaller firms benefit from their presence. Furthermore, our analysis shows a positive and statistically significant impact on labor productivity from foreign-born workers with 5 to 9 years of formal education. This finding suggests that this particular demographic brings valuable skills and contributions to the workforce, enhancing overall productivity levels.

In this study, we investigate the impact of the share of the foreign labor force on the wage of native workers in Portugal between 2010 and 2019 using linked employer-employee data from Quadros de Pessoal. By leveraging job characteristics from the O*NET skill taxonomy, we create more homogeneous skill groups, enabling a precise analysis of immigration's impact on specific skill sets. The empirical analysis, focusing on occupation-experience groups, reveals a positive association between native wages and immigrant shares. In contrast, when groups are based on education-experience, the relationship appears negative. These contradictory findings suggest that the impact of immigration on native wages varies significantly depending on how labor markets are segmented. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates a positive and statistically significant effect on native wages in high-skilled occupations, while native wages in low-skilled occupations are negatively affected due to increased competition. Our findings highlight the importance of considering occupation classification over simple education levels and suggest that diverse results in existing literature may be due to sample averaging.