This paper compares main European countries and the euro area specialization patterns. The analysis, that covers the period 1988-1997 and is based on a detailed sectoral breakdown, provides evidence to assess the degree of structural differences and convergence among European countries, which...

This paper analyzes the characteristics of Italian firms involved in global value chains (�intermediate� firms) by using the Bank of Italy survey on industrial companies. Intermediate firms show, on average, worse features than �final� firms: smaller size, lower share of...

This paper examines the product specialisation of Italian exports over the period 1985-2001 to identify the roots of Italy�s sluggish export performance with respect to world trade in the second half of the 1990s. In particular, the analysis focuses on the role of product specialisation in...

This paper compares the evolution of trade specialisation, by technological content, of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Marche, Veneto and the Italian average over 1992-2002. It is shown that, over the period, the four regions� export performance has been negatively affected by the stationarity...

During the past decade all industrial countries attracted sizeable inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), excluding Italy and Japan: this fact has been interpreted as evidencing a deterioration in Italy�s structural competitiveness. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted...