After the three Italies : wealth, inequality and industrial change

Author(s)

• Dunford, Michael
• Greco, Lidia

Bibliographic Information

After the three Italies : wealth, inequality and industrial change

Michael Dunford and Lidia Greco

（RGS-IBG book series）

Blackwell Pub., 2006

• : hardback

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [296]-311) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

After the Three Italies develops a new political economy approach to the analysis of comparative regional development and the territorial division of labour and exemplifies it through an up-to-date account of Italian industrial change and regional economic performance. Responds to recent theoretical debates in economic geography, involving economists, geographers and planners. Builds the foundations for a new theoretical approach to regional economic development and the territorial division of labour. Draws on the results of a recent ESRC funded research project, as well as on a large range of official data sets. Provides an up-to-date picture of Italy's economic performance and of its recent development relative to other European countries and the rest of the world. Analyses Italy's internal differentiation and its persistent regional inequalities. Examines the regional impact of the recent evolution of the car, chemicals, steel and clothing industries. Leads to a new and more complex picture of Italian development.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi List of Tables xiv Series Editors' Preface xvii Preface and Acknowledgements xviii List of Abbreviations xxiii 1 Introduction: Growth, Inequality and the Territorial Division of Labour 1 Areal differentiation and development models 1 After the Three Italies 8 A new economic geography of uneven development 12 The structure of the book 15 2 Convergence, Divergence, Regional Economic Performance and the New Economic Geographies 17 Analyzing regional economic performance 17 Convergence or divergence 20 Territorial divisions of labour 26 Conclusions 39 3 Theorizing Regional Economic Performance and the Changing Territorial Division of Labour: Value Chains, Industrial Networks, Competition and Governance 41 Introduction 41 Basic and nonbasic industries 42 Explaining the dynamics of activities serving wider markets 43 Enterprises and their environment: establishing the frontiers/boundaries of the firm 50 Enterprises and their environment: interfirm relations 52 Modes of governance and growth 58 Conclusions 61 4 Growth and Inequality: The Political Economy of Italian Development 64 Introduction 64 Italy's economy in its European and Mediterranean context 65 Official statistics, unrecorded activities and the measurement of output 70 GDP, net transfers and regional income 76 Territorial inequality in Italy at the turn of the millennium 80 Catching up, falling behind, surging ahead and losing ground: trends in Italian regional development 87 Conclusions 90 5 Institutional Dynamics and Regional Performance 92 Introduction 92 The institutional configuration and the characteristics of Italian capitalism 93 Institutional context and territorial development dynamics 97 Crime and territorial development 102 Changes in the 1990s: the political scene 104 Changes in the 1990s: the system of governance 107 Changes in the 1990s: debt reduction and privatization 111 Changes in the 1990s: territorial development policies 113 Concluding remarks: the implications of recent trends 124 6 Italian Regional Evolutions 128 Introduction 128 Italian regional evolutions 130 Comparative regional development 140 Comparative provincial development 147 Employment, productivity and investment 149 Economic specialization, exports and international integration 155 After the Three Italies: the origins and limits of the district model 159 Conclusions 169 7 Industrial Change and Regional Development: The Changing Sectoral Profile of Regional Development and the Evolving Regional Profile of Industrial Change 170 Introduction 170 The sectoral profile of regional economies 170 Sectoral structures and uneven development 173 The changing geography of vehicle manufacturing in Italy and the world 187 The changing geography of chemical manufacturing in Italy and the world 200 Conclusions 207 8 Globalization, Industrial Restructuring and the Italian Motor Vehicle Industry 209 Introduction 209 The FIAT Group: changing functions in the value chain and changing chains 210 Globalization and market-seeking investments 216 FIAT in Italy: technological and organizational upgrading and geographies of production 225 Outsourcing, redefining corporate boundaries and restructuring the supply chain 230 Crisis, markets and models 236 Conclusions 242 Afterword 243 9 Reconfiguring Industrial Activities and Places: The Italian Chemical Industry 244 Introduction 244 The Italian chemical industry and its changing position in the wider European and world context 245 History and characteristics of the Italian chemical industry 252 Trajectories of restructuring 255 The role of SMEs 262 Another aspect of the new international division of labour: foreign companies in Italy 264 Experiences and regional impacts of restructuring: the disengagement of the chemical industry in Puglia 266 From growth pole to industrial cemetery: the disengagement of the chemical industry from Basilicata 271 Conclusions 280 10 Conclusions and Further Remarks 282 Introduction 282 Geography as a spatial expression of a social order 282 Geography and development models 283 Contemporary perspectives on industrial change and regional economic performance 284 Theorizing industrial change and regional inequality: profit strategies and value chain upgrading 286 Areal differentiation and uneven development in Italy: from the north-south divide to the Three Italies and after 288 Economic decline and the limits of the district model 290 Industrial and regional performance 293 Conclusions: inequalities, territorial divisions of labour and profit strategies 294 References 296 Notes 312 Appendices 318 Subject Index 335 Author Index 343

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA74935028
• ISBN:
  • 1405125209
• LCCN: 2005006161
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Malden, Mass.
• Pages/Volumes: xxvi, 345 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : HC305
  • DC22 : 338.945
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Italy -- Economic conditions -- 1994- -- Regional disparities
  • LCSH : Regionalism -- Economic aspects -- Italy
  • LCSH : Industries -- Italy
  • LCSH : Income distribution -- Italy
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA54554768