In this work we analyze the spatial distribution of manufacturing industries in Italy using data on the number of employees in the local units localized in the Local labour Systems, as revealed by the decennial censuses from 1971 to 2001. We use the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, which...

We build a model of price differentiation with firm heterogeneity, which allows for imperfect competition and market segmentation in the presence of flexible exchange rates as well as horizontal and vertical differentiation and different tastes of consumers in destination markets. We empirically...

This paper investigates the pricing-to-market (PTM) behaviour of Italian exporting firms, using quarterly survey data by sector and by region over the period 1999q1-2005q2. A partial equilibrium imperfect competition model provides the structure according to which the orthogonality of structural...

Using a balanced longitudinal data set on Italian manufacturing firms born in 1996 and active in 2000, we analyse the firm size dynamics. The aim is to assess the presence of non-linearities and/or discontinuities in the growth behaviour generated by the employment protection legislation (EPL),...

In spite of the huge amount of public aids to poor regions, relative movements in the distribution of income, labor productivity and employment rates across European regions show no positive relation with the distribution of the Structural Funds. Specifically, widening employment gaps and a...

During the first half of the current decade, with rising competitive pressures, Italian manufacturing firms were forced to undertake a process of restructuring which had positive repercussions on export performance. This paper carries out empirical analysis using a panel of exporting firms...

Italian industry continues to specialise in traditional industries. This is a source of concern for some observers who argue that this kind of specialisation overexpose Italian manufacturing to the competition of low cost producers, especially those located in emerging economies. We verify how...

This paper focuses on the influence of labour market reforms on the wage equation for Italy over the period 1981-2006. Using Gregory and Hansen (1996) residuals based tests for cointegration in model with regime shifts, we try to detect endogenously a possible structural break in the long run...

The recent theoretical literature has focused on the importance of extensive and intensive margins of trade in the case of the Euro adoption. But few works have investigated the effects of the euro introduction on the extensive and intensive margins of trade. All these studies have used...

Recent literature on heterogeneous multi-product firms predicts that elimination of marginal (less productive) products, due to fiercer competition, leads to an increase of firm efficiency. We test this prediction in the case of a sample of Italian firms during a period (2000-05) of rising...