TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN ITALIAN REGIONS, 1982-2001

This paper first brings together aggregate data from the 20 Italian regions, concerning the dynamics of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) over twenty years, and then investigates the relationship between the observed variance in TFP evolution and the level of knowledge capital, both private and public, human capital and patent applications. Over the last decade a growing debate emerged in Italy concerning the transition of the national economy toward specialization in service sectors, despite the continuing relevance of manufacturing activities. The transition is supposed to be managed in different ways, according to the different governance mechanisms at work in different contexts. The opposition between a "first capitalistic organization" and a "second" one provides a useful framework to the interpretation of the dynamics in progress. The results stemming from econometric tests confirm the existence of different patterns of evolution, driven by different sets of factors, according to the specific way the economic activities are organized in each of the twenty Italian regions.