Using Eurostat and OECD data on agri-food exports, this article provides a picture of the evolution in the similarity between Italian and other European Mediterranean countries' exports, before and after the recent financial crisis. Considering different indexes, the similarity is somewhat moderate and does not vary noticeably among the indexes when considering the EU-25 market. By contrast, a strong qualitative dissimilarity is recorded in the North American market. Overall, France and Spain appear more similar to Italy and likely to compete in the same agri-food market segments. The crisis seems associated to a slight modification of the exports structure.

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This paper explores the role of the Italian Constitutional Court through a quantitative analysis of the disputes between the central government and the regions in the context of the decentralization reforms started in the late 90s. We put forward the hypothesis of an institutionally embedded attitude of the Court. Our econometric evidence shows that during the recentralization process started in 2011 by the central governments in response to a major financial and debt crisis, the probability of a favourable outcome for the regions is significantly reduced. Our results support the perspective that the political and institutional environment affect the attitude of the Courts and provide fresh insights about the role of the Courts during major economic crisis. JEL classification H77

This work empirically investigates Italian cooperative banks (BCCs) as a driver of new business creation in the Italian provinces over the period 2003-12. The results show that the presence of BCCs positively and significantly affects firms' entry rates. We also find that the impact of BCCs diffusion on birth rate tends to be stronger for high tech industries during the pre-crisis years, whilst it appears larger for low-tech sectors when considering the post-crisis period. This evidence suggests that BCCs might play a relevant role in financing innovative and risky firms-though, when banks' riskaversion increases, BCCs tend, unsurprisingly, to downsize the financing of riskier projects.