Regional disparities and industrial structure: territorial capital and productivity in Italian firms

We investigate the role of Territorial Capital (TC) on the productivity of Italian firms, constructing indicators for eight dimensions of TC in a first attempt to capture a wide variety of regional resources. When imposing homogeneous TC effects on all firms, we find that technological, social, institutional, financial and infrastructure capital drive productivity. However, only technological and artistic capital contribute to reduce regional disparities. Across industries, financial capital and infrastructure increase productivity in companies operating in a wide range of sectors. Industrial policies should consider sectoral heterogeneity and North-South differences to effectively boost productivity performance.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Regional Studies on 26 June 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00343404.2020.1763941