IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/par/dipeco/2007-ep03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Locational determinants of the ICT sector across Italy

Author

Listed:
  • A. Lasagni
  • F. Sforzi

Abstract

Is the rapid growth of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) activities shaping new local specialization and industrial concentration? Does the analysis of local economic conditions help to explain the formation of “places” specialized in ICT? We use 2001 Census data by Local Labour Systems (LLS) to investigate the characteristics of ICT specialization in Italy. Our investigation is based on a cross-sectional regression model using data for 686 LLS in which the dependent variable is an index of ICT local employment concentration. The measure of concentration we adopted is the location quotient (LQ) index. The LLS specialized in ICT activities in Italy account for 7.3% of total LLS. They are distributed all over the country, although those with highest LQ values are mainly in North-west and Central-south Italy. Our regression analysis provides the following results. The general econometric specification, i.e. that applied to all LLS, supports a positive and significant relationship between LLS specialized in some manufacturing industries (machinery, equipment and instruments; petrochemicals, rubber and plastic products; transport equipment; and paper, publishing and printing) or business services and relatively high localization of ICT employment. Besides, the model indicates that for LLS characterized by manufacturing SMEs there is a low probability of attaining a greater-than-the-national-average ICT employment specialization. These econometric results are in line with the general opinion that product specialization of Italian industries (the so-called “Made in Italy”) and SMEs are less likely to be involved in ICT diffusion to business. Nevertheless, this pattern of results does not justify the interpretation that the industrial districts (where SMEs employment has the largest share) are at the origin of inadequate ICT diffusion to business in Italy. In fact, when the analysis is focused on industrial districts the results are slightly different. In particular, the variable SMEs does not produce a significant coefficient, while textile and clothing industries show a positive association with ICT, even though significant only at 10% level. What is the main policy implication of these empirical findings? National government’s policy makers should become aware that industrial districts are an appropriate instrument to promote the development of the ICT sector, although so far they have been neglected. "

Suggested Citation

  • A. Lasagni & F. Sforzi, 2007. "Locational determinants of the ICT sector across Italy," Economics Department Working Papers 2007-EP03, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    • Handle: RePEc:par:dipeco:2007-ep03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://swrwebeco.econ.unipr.it/RePEc/pdf/I_2007-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susanna Mantegazza & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Simona Iammarino, 2001. "The regional dimension of the ICT industry in Italy," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2001(110).
    2. Antonio Bassanetti & Massimiliano Iommi & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Francesco Zollino, 2004. "La crescita dell'economia italiana negli anni novanta tra ritardo tecnologico e rallentamento della produttivit�," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 539, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Bart van Ark & Robert Inklaar & Robert H. McGuckin, 2003. "ICT and Productivity in Europe and the United States Where Do the Differences Come From?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(3), pages 295-318.
    4. Koski, H. & Rouvinen, P. & Yla-Anttila, P., 2002. "ICT clusters in Europe The great central banana and the small Nordic potato," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 145-165, June.
    5. Francesco Daveri, 2004. "Delayed IT Usage: Is It Really the Drag on Europe's Productivity?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 50(3), pages 397-421.
    6. Frank G. van Oort & Oedzge A. L. C. Atzema, 2004. "On the conceptualization of agglomeration economies: The case of new firm formation in the Dutch ICT sector," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 38(2), pages 263-290, June.
    7. Oecd, 2005. "New Perspectives on ICT Skills and Employment," OECD Digital Economy Papers 96, OECD Publishing.
    8. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    9. Giuseppe De Arcangelis & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Stefano Manzocchi, 2004. "Sectoral Determinants and Dynamics of ICT Investment in Italy," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 94(3), pages 119-162, May-June.
    10. Carole Maignan & Dino Pinelli & Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2003. "ICT, Clusters and Regional Cohesion: A Summary of Theoretical and Empirical Research," Working Papers 2003.58, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. L. Becchetti & David Bedoya & L. Paganetto, 2003. "ICT Investment, Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence at Firm Level Using a Stochastic Frontier Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 143-167, September.
    12. Lucia Piscitello & Andrea Bonaccorsi & Cristina Rossi, 2006. "Explaining the territorial adoption of New Technology. A spatial econometric approach," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2006(1).
    13. Caron H. John & Richard W. Pouder, 2006. "Technology Clusters versus Industry Clusters: Resources, Networks, and Regional Advantages," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 141-171, June.
    14. Atzeni, Gianfranco E. & Carboni, Oliviero A., 2006. "ICT productivity and firm propensity to innovative investment: Evidence from Italian microdata," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 139-156, June.
    15. Francesco Daveri & Andrea Mascotto, 2006. "The It Revolution Across The United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(4), pages 569-602, December.
    16. Björn Alecke & Christoph Alsleben & Frank Scharr & Gerhard Untiedt, 2006. "Are there really high-tech clusters? The geographic concentration of German manufacturing industries and its determinants," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 40(1), pages 19-42, March.
    17. repec:dgr:rugccs:200311 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Ark, Bart van & Inklaar, Robert & McGuckin, Robert H., 2003. "ICT and productivity in Europe and the United States," CCSO Working Papers 200311, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research.
    19. Kolko, Jed, 2002. "Silicon mountains, silicon molehills: geographic concentration and convergence of internet industries in the US," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 211-232, June.
    20. Giacomo Becattini & Marco Bellandi & Gabi Dei Ottati & Fabio Sforzi, 2003. "From Industrial Districts to Local Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2884.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grigori Feiguine & Julia Solovjova, 2013. "ICT Investment and Internationalization of the Russian Economy," EIIW Discussion paper disbei196, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    2. Grigori Feiguine & Julia Solovjova, 2014. "ICT investment and internationalization of the Russian economy," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 231-250, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer & Bart Van Ark, 2007. "Mind the Gap! International Comparisons of Productivity in Services and Goods Production," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 281-307, May.
    2. Stiroh Kevin & Botsch Matthew, 2007. "Information Technology and Productivity Growth in the 2000s," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 255-280, May.
    3. Kevin Stiroh & Matthew Botsch, 2007. "Information Technology and Productivity Growth in the 2000s," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8, pages 255-280, May.
    4. Sophia P. Dimelis & Sotiris K. Papaioannou, 2011. "Technical Efficiency and the Role of ICT: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(0), pages 40-53, July.
    5. Tomaž Hovelja, 2009. "Information Technology Deployment In A Transition Economy: Results From Slovenia," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 54(183), pages 56-88, October -.
    6. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer & Bart Van Ark, 2007. "Mind the Gap! International Comparisons of Productivity in Services and Goods Production," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 281-307, May.
    7. Federico Biagi & Maria Laura Parisi & Lucia Vergano, 2008. "Organizational Innovations and Labor Productivity in a Panel of Italian Manufacturing Firms," Working Papers 0813, University of Brescia, Department of Economics.
    8. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Mika Maliranta, 2016. "How does the age structure of worker flows affect firm performance?," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 43-62, August.
    9. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-79 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Bronwyn H. Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 300-328, April.
    11. Timmer, Marcel & Inklaar, Robert, 2005. "Productivity differentials in the U.S. and EU distributive trade sector: statistical myth or reality," GGDC Research Memorandum 200576, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    12. M. Ishaq NADIRI & Banani NANDI, 2015. "Modern Communication Technology and its Economic Impact: A Survey of Research Findings," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(100), pages 125-144, 4th quart.
    13. Theo Eicher & Oliver Roehn, 2007. "Sources of the German Productivity Demise – Tracing the Effects of Industry-Level ICT Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 1896, CESifo.
    14. van Ark, Bart & Inklaar, Robert, 2006. "Catching up or getting stuck? Europe's troubles to exploit ICT's productivity potential," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-79, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    15. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Maliranta, Mika & Rouvinen, Petri, 2003. "Productivity Effects of ICT in Finnish Business," Discussion Papers 852, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    17. Mounir Dahmani & Mohamed Mabrouki & Adel Ben Youssef, 2022. "The Information and Communication Technologies-Economic Growth Nexus in Tunisia - A Cross-Section Dynamic Panel Approach," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 18(2), pages 161-174.
    18. Paul J.J. Welfens & Evgeniya Yushkova, 2018. "IKT-Sektor in China und Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zu Deutschland," EIIW Discussion paper disbei244, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    19. Gianfranco E. Atzeni & OA Carboni, 2006. "Regional Disparity in ICT Adoption: an Empirical Evaluation of The Effects of Subsidies in Italy," Working Paper CRENoS 200608, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    20. Adel Ben Khalifa, 2018. "Government Supports and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 41-70, December.
    21. Charlie Karlsson & Gunther Maier & Michaela Trippl & Iulia Siedschlag & Gavin Murphy, 2010. "ICT and Regional Economic Dynamics: A Literature Review," JRC Research Reports JRC59920, Joint Research Centre.
    22. Atzeni, Gianfranco E. & Carboni, Oliviero A., 2008. "The effects of grant policy on technology investment in Italy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 381-399.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information and Communication Technologies; Local Labour Systems; geographical concentration; local specialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:par:dipeco:2007-ep03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Andrea Lasagni (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feparit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.