The aim of this paper is to examine the role of industrial districts, sector-specific and non-sector specific agglomeration economies in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Italian regions and provinces. We found that Italian inward FDI are positively affected by specialization...

The goal of this paper is to investigate the link between the length of a firm-bank relationship and firm's internationalization. The analysis is carried out on matched firm-bank micro-data from a survey of Italian enterprises from 1998 to 2003. We obtain two main results. First, a longer...

The presence of foreign multinational enterprises may benefit local economies. In particular, highly productive foreign-owned firms may promote technological catch-up of local firms. Such channel of spillovers is defined as "Veblen-Geschenkron" effect of Foreign Direct Investments and is...