The global economy has transformed during the last few decades. Though the changes have benefited some, many mature industrial economies have not been treated well by the changes they have seen and have been forced to adapt to dramatically altered circumstances. In this collection of original...

The volume begins with an Introduction, followed by a set of three papers in Part Two examining European urban competitiveness from the standpoints of measurement and policy. This section also provides a case study of the cities of one country – Italy – from which the reader can...

Since the second half of the 1990s the Italian economy has experienced a significant slowdown in the rate of economic growth. The “dwarfism” of its manufacturing firms, their specialization in traditional sectors and their organization in industrial districts have been identified by many...

Since the second half of the 1990s the Italian economy has experienced a significant slowdown in the rate of economic growth. The ‘dwarfism’ of its manufacturing firms, their specialisation in traditional sectors and their organisation in industrial districts have been identified by many...

Against the backdrop of today’s climate of economic globalization and the rapid development of information, this timely book explores the complex concept of competitiveness between cities. The expert contributors illustrate that innovation is a prerequisite for increasing urban...

The configuration of new governance models is based on a wide theoretical thinking and represents the lowest common denominator among the different social policies fields. The object of this paper is the empirical analysis of the regionalization of labor policies. The research shows the presence...