Many empirical studies have analysed the convergence of the Italian regions, but no evidence is provided on the causes of differences in productivity levels. Moving from a recent approach focusing on differences in levels across countries, rather than in growth rates (Hall - Jones 1999), the...

Abstract: Using a panel data model to control for differences in regional technological levels and to take into account endogeneity, we find two key results for the growth of Italian regions. Firstly, we show that the rate of conditional convergence of each region is much higher (from 12% to 18%...