A wealth of literature has focused on the effectiveness of cohesion policy for regional development. However, most studies have neglected the heterogeneous nature of such interventions. In this article, we study such heterogeneity by identifying different development strategies put in place by...

The 2004 IDB Infrastructure Conference Series included four major events that took place in Madrid (January 22-23), Washington, D.C. (February 19-20), Lima (March 27, during the Bank's Annual Meeting); and Tokyo (May 13). These events brought together leading specialists and stakeholders...

La Serie de Conferencias del BID sobre Infraestructura (2004) incluyó cuatro eventos que se celebraron en Madrid (22-23 de enero), Washington, D.C. (19-20 de febrero), Lima (27 de marzo, durante la Reunión Anual del Banco) y Tokio (13 de mayo). Estos eventos reunieron a especialistas e...

European regions have experienced a greater presence of service producers in their economy over the last few decades. Indeed, the manufacturing sector increasingly contracts out many activities to intermediate producer services. This is mostly because they are located close to each other and...

The well known Italian dualism in terms of development disparities between the North and the South has been one of the most debated issues in economics over the last few decades. In the aftermath of the Unification of Italy, the gap between North and South in terms of human capital stock was...

Geography has long been considered as a fundamental prerequisite for economic development and growth. In recent years, a growing number of papers have considered the role of physical geography as a determinant of regional growth and development by considering it as a source of “intrinsic...

The aim of this note is to introduce the special issue on "Mega-projects and regional development in the Italian experience" and to review some of the critical issues associated with the evaluation of mega-projects. In particular, we focus on the shortcomings of Cost-Benefit Analysis when the...

City distribution plays a key role in supporting urban lifestyles, helping to serve and retain industrial and trading activities, and contributing to the competitiveness of regional industry. Despite these positive effects, it also generates negative (economic, environmental and social) impacts...

Social capital has remained relatively underexplored in innovation literature. Existing studies have failed to reach a consensus on its impact on local innovative performance: some empirical analyses emphasize a positive effect, others speak about a ‘dark side’ of social capital. This paper...