The empirical work on the role of trade linkages in the transmission of economic disturbances has been limited to tests on the significance of variables of simple trade shares of partners, both bilateral and in common markets. This approach ignores additional elements deriving from the new open...

This paper examines the product specialisation of Italian exports over the period 1985-2001 to identify the roots of Italy�s sluggish export performance with respect to world trade in the second half of the 1990s. In particular, the analysis focuses on the role of product specialisation in...

This paper compares the evolution of trade specialisation, by technological content, of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Marche, Veneto and the Italian average over 1992-2002. It is shown that, over the period, the four regions� export performance has been negatively affected by the stationarity...