We investigate the economic impact of the 2009 earthquake in the L'Aquila labour market area (Italy) through a synthetic difference-in-differences method applied to the 2004-2013 period. The shock immediately disrupted the local economy with a 27.3% and 38.2% reduction in employment and the...

In recent decades, developed economies have experienced a strong concentration of economic activity around their main metropolises, generating economic and social fractures between these prosperous areas and the rest of the country. Several contributions in the literature on the 'geography of...