During the first two-thirds of the 20th century the themes of sectorial structure and compared performance prevail in Italian economic historiography. In contrast, in the last part of the century attention is focused on the behavior of single economic actors and their micro-economic strategies....

Using panel data from Spain Farinas and Ruano (IJIO 2005) test three hypotheses from a model by Hopenhayn (Econometrica 1992): (H1) Firms that exit in year t were in t-1 less productive than firms that continue to produce in t. (H2) Firms that enter in year t are less productive than incumbent...