<em>Subcontracting firms: profitability, productivity and regional Gap</em> - By making use of a 4000 firms database, this article is aimed to analyze the dynamics of division of labour among manufacturing firms during the ‘90s and to assess the impact that subcontracting has on manufacturing firms’...

In this article we attempt an overall evaluation of what are called "planning contracts", a policy measure originally designed in 1986 to encourage large firms to invest in Southern Italy and that a new law has recently re-launched. On the basis of secondary data, we take into consideration...