PhD holders propensity to work in research-intensive sectors: evidence from Italy

The present study aims at estimating the probability of PhD holders to work in research- intensive sectors in Italy. We use data available from the National Institute of Statistics for the year 2018, to estimate a probit model with the Heckman correction for the sample selection bias. The novelty of this paper is the broad analysis done to all the entire population of Italian PhD holders and also the informative richness of the dataset employed. Our results document a negative association between age, being female, and a positive association between STEM areas and the estimated probability. Moreover, one result that emerges from the analysis is a lack of capacity of Italy’s research institutions to retain Italian researchers in their own country. In this respect, the study has political consequences related to PhD holders career orientation.