Territorial determinants and NUTS 3 regional performance: A spatial analysis for Italy across the crisis

Abstract

This paper analyses the differential impact of several territorial determinants of the economic performance of Italian provinces (NUTS 3 level). as measured by per capita GDP, export and employment growth from 1999 to 2014. It covers both the pre‐crisis and the crisis period and stresses the role of geographical proximity in shaping local performance over a wide set of explanatory variables. In order to do so, we employ, firstly, a spatial Durbin model which enables us to discriminate between direct and indirect effects and to highlight the possible contagion or crowding‐out spatial effects for each territorial dimension affecting growth. Then, we extend the analysis by allowing for the possibility of two regimes (pre‐crisis and post‐crisis). The performance of the provinces before and during the crisis relates to specific territorial components and geographic proximity appears to influence differently the results and their interpretation.

Transport infrastructure and regional convergence: A spatial panel data approach

“…Other studies undertake their analyses using cost functions (Morrison & Schwartz, ; Nadiri & Mamuneas, ). Some recent contributions to this question have employed different theoretical frameworks to capture the spatial externalities of transport infrastructure (Chen & Haynes, ; Cohen, ; Crescenzi & Rodríguez‐Pose, ; Del Bo & Florio, ; Lo Cascio, Mazzola, & Epifanio, ; Yu, De Jong, Storm, & Mi, ). In general, their results point (albeit not unanimously) to a direct and positive impact.…”

“…With only a few exceptions (Arbués et al, ; Chen & Haynes, ; Lo Cascio et al, ), the analysis is made without any prior disaggregation by type of infrastructure. In this regard, different studies have found a positive impact from a specific transportation mode on some measure of the regional or urban economic performance.…”

The role of regional competitiveness in shaping the heterogeneous impact of the Great Recession

“…However, a recent study by Crescenzi and Rodriguez‐Pose () finds that neither having a good endowment of roads, nor being surrounded by regions with good transport infrastructure (proxied by regional motorways) has a significant impact on regional economic growth. In line with these findings, Lo Cascio et al () also find that traditional factors of growth (such as road infrastructure endowment) have lost relevance during the crisis period. Therefore, we believe that the impact of infrastructures may be non‐linear since it is possible that once a minimum threshold of basic transport infrastructures has been achieved, the direct contribution to growth of more “traditional” infrastructure endowments may tend to decrease and more general accessibility concepts should be considered.…”

“…Crescenzi, Luca, and Milio () looked at several macroeconomic and regional factors that may have affected regional resilience in Europe. Instead, Fratesi and Perucca (), Mazzola, Lo Cascio, Epifanio, and Di Giacomo () and Lo Cascio, Mazzola, and Epifanio () claimed that several dimensions of the territorial capital acted as relevant determinants of the provincial (NUTS 3 regions) ability to afford periods of distress. Conversely, according to Rios (), national factors (i.e., labour market institutions) assumed a greater importance than local endogenous one in explaining increasing unemployment disparities in European regions after the crisis.…”

Does innovation matter for regional labour resilience? The case of EU regions

“…In addition, relevant studies have shown that labour conditions (Ríos, 2017) and human capital endowment (Lo Cascio, Mazzola, & Epifanio, 2018) represent an important determinant of different regional impact of the last great economic crisis (Ubago, García-Lautre, Iraizoz, & Pascual, 2019) and with profound, specific and complex reflection on key socio-economic regional phenomena.…”