This paper provides an empirical investigation of the agency relationship between the public sector and small firms targeted for assistance by examining micro and macro data for a cross section of eligible women business enterprises (WBEs). Using hedonic sales and employment indices we find that...

“We risk having a generation that hasn’t held a job. Personal dignity comes from working [...] Young people are in a crisis". Pope Francis - July the 22nd, 2013. Youth unemployment is a critical issue across the European Union with 5.5 million people unemployed among the 18-24 years age...

There is growing recognition that innovation plays a key role in enhancing competitiveness and enable emerging economies catch up with rich countries. In this sense, Mexico needs to strengthen its national innovation system (NIS) in order to create wealth and reduce poverty and inequality. This...

During the past two decades, the “Washington Consensus” has been the dominant recipe for unleashing economic growth in developing countries. In view of the strong criticism mounted against it, it seems to have lost prominence recently. The success of the East Asian newly industrialized...

The paper aims to show some of the complex relationships between institutions and industrial policies. Institutions are important factors determining the slow pace of change of the societies, their economies, States and private sectors, therefore presenting important consequences for the design...

This paper describes the major instruments of industrial policy in Morocco since its independence (1956) and assesses them empirically. Regarding the second objective, several methods for assessing the impact of industrial policy exist in the economic literature. In this paper the question is...

Till recently the investment policy of India was overtly nationalistic. Today however everything seems to be changing. The change is enormous. India is becoming very open to foreign investors. Governmental procedures have been simplified and for most of the enterprises no government permission...

In this short essay the contributions discussed at the Conference “From the crisis to the growth. Policies to sustain the SM firms”, taken place in June 2009 at the University of Padova, have been collected. In the contributions presented, moving from different points of view, the authors...

Underlying Greece's public debt crisis is a fundamental economic problem: its lack of international competitiveness. While in the short term the debt crisis must be solved, in the long term the economic perspective of the country will depend on whether it will succeed in developing competitive...

Cluster policy has become a method of choice for economic policymakers in many nations and regions in both industrialized and developing countries. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the policy is being perceived by politicians and practitioners as a way to anchor economic activity in locations...