This paper analyses the local determinants of producer service growth in Italy, focusing on agglomeration economies, and taking into account the particular features of this sector with respect to manufacturing. Using an OECD classification, we estimate a dynamic specification allowing for...

The aim of this study is to develop a new method to measure local endowments of transport infrastructures. Starting from the analytical approach of the �new economic geography�, which emphasizes the role of spatial location in determining the growth performance of an economy, it is...

The paper evaluates the effectiveness of a major Italian place-based policy (Contratti di Programma), by means of which the state approves and finances industrial projects proposed by private firms. Using the areas to be exposed to the same policy at a later date as counterfactuals, the study...

This paper explores the interactions between external trade and regional disparities in the Italian economy since unification. It argues that the advantage of the North was initially based on natural advantage (in particular the endowment of water, intensive in silk production). From 1880...

In 150 years, the trends in regional disparities in economic development within Italy have differed depending on whether they are gauged by longitude or by latitude. The disparities between western and eastern regions first widened and then closed; the North-South gap, by contrast, remains the...

Economic convergence at the sub-national level could have spatially explicit manifestations reflecting convergence clubs and other forms of geographical clustering that are not captured by an overall inequality measure. By decomposing the Theil index of per capita income inequality into between...

The book brings together a series of research papers presented at the conference "The Economy of the North East of Italy", held at Fondazione CUOA in Altavilla Vicentina on 23-24 November 2010. The papers analyse economic developments in the region and look for possible explanations of the poor...

The book brings together a series of research papers presented at the conference entitled "Infrastructure in Italy", held in Perugia on 14-15 October 2010. The papers analyse the relationship between public investment and economic growth; the endowment and quality of infrastructure across the...

The book brings together a series of research papers presented at a workshop on "Economic integration between the Mezzogiorno and the Centre North", held at the Bank of Italy in Rome on 15 March 2011. The workshop assessed the degree of economic integration between the two areas from several...

The book brings together a series of research papers presented at the conference on "The Mezzogiorno and regional policies", held in Perugia on 26-27 February 2009. The analyses refer to various aspects of the regional economies: wages, bargaining and prices; environmental diseconomies; public...