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Title: Impact of business transfer on economic performance: the case of Italian family farms

Authors: Danilo Bertoni; Daniele Cavicchioli; Laure Latruffe

Addresses: Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy ' Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy ' INRAE, GREThA, University of Bordeaux, 33608, Pessac, France

Abstract: The impact of business transfer on family business performance is widely explored in the literature but is neglected for agriculture although family farms are key players in the economy. We investigate whether the succession changes the economic performance of family firms for Italian family farms during the period 2008-2014. Our results show that succession on these family businesses has a negative effect on their economic performance related to capital, due to an increase in capital after succession. One policy implication is that support for investment by new farmers should be improved.

Keywords: family business; succession; economic performance; propensity score matching; PSM; Italian farms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2023.128337

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2023 Vol.48 No.2, pp.186 - 213

Accepted: 05 Apr 2021
Published online: 18 Jan 2023 *