International migration flows constitute one of the most policy-relevant elements of modern economies. The Italian experience is a case of particular interest given the rapid growth of immigration flows, the large number of countries of origin involved, and regional economic heterogeneity. This...

This paper assesses the role played by country specific factors as determinants of exports' diversification process. Using a panel data-set for 60 countries and twenty years (1985-2004) we confirm that even after clearing out differences in income per capita, cross section variability in the...

This paper contributes to trade diversification literature by comparing changes in relative (i.e. assessed in comparison with world patterns) heterogeneity of import and export structures in the process of economic development. In particular, by focusing on the diversification of imports, we add...

It is customary in the empirical trade literature to analyze specialization patterns of countries using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) measures. This paper explores the pros and cons of the most commonly used RCA index: the Balassa (1965) Index of RCA. After describing the properties of...

I was accustomed to think that the world, in this of "modern economic growth", is becoming less specialized: the invention of new goods is, only partially, a "Schumpeterian" process, in the sense that new goods sometimes replace old ones, but it can also happens that these new goods simply are...

This work considers a hypothesis on mechanisms of productivity levels convergence among countries in an attempt to examine some of the current assumptions in this field. After a short summary of the chief findings of other authors, the study focuses on the pioneer follower contraposition,...

In questo lavoro si affrontano due questioni, la prima relativa alla nascita, la seconda alle trasformazioni dei sistemi locali marchigiani. Le determinanti storiche specifiche dei processi di "decollo" dei sistemi produttivi locali di piccola impresa risultano fortemente eterogenee, mentre un...