Labor productivity convergence is a key factor in the catching up process of less developed regions. For the regional economies as a whole labor productivity differentials can be traced back to three distinct determinants: - composition effects due to the peculiar structure of the regional...

In this paper we compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated to two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy, i.e. urban areas (UA) and industrial districts (ID). UA typically display a huge concentration of population and host a wide range of economic activities,...

Financial and banking systems play a crucial role for the reconstruction of war-worn countries, for the completion of the transition process and for the economic development. Financial systems in transitino countries had to be build from the scratch, often without any consolidated experience in...

Traditionally, scholars describe Italian industrial districts (IDs) as closed manufacturing systems of SMEs embedded in local contexts, able to interact with the outside only at the two ends of the value chain and where well-identified firms were in charge of managing the relationships with...