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Path dependence, institutions and the density of economic activities: Evidence from Italian cities

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  • Marco Percoco

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="es"> En los últimos años, un creciente cuerpo de literatura ha comenzado a considerar la posible presencia de una dependencia de la trayectoria en los procesos de desarrollo de los países. Este fenómeno siempre ha sido reconocido en los estudios regionales y urbanos, porque la trayectoria del desarrollo sigue casi de manera natural una difusión espacial dependiente de la historia e influida por la geografía física y la calidad de las instituciones. En este artículo, considero el caso de la concentración de empresas y empleo en Italia, y su impacto en el desarrollo local. Una literatura copiosa, y en aumento, ha argumentado a favor de los efectos persistentes de las instituciones del pasado sobre los resultados actuales. Por lo tanto, con el fin de identificar el impacto de la densidad de empresas y empleo en los ingresos, he empleado instrumentos de la historia de un conjunto de ciudades italianas: a saber, la presencia de una universidad y su estatus como ciudades-estado independientes durante la Alta Edad Media. En primer lugar demuestro que esas dos variables tuvieron un efecto importante en el proceso de desarrollo urbano entre 1300 y 1861, junto con una serie de condiciones geográficas favorables. A continuación, cuando empleo estos instrumentos para predecir la densidad de empresas y empleo, encuentro que la elasticidad de los ingresos de las empresas y el empleo se halla en un intervalo de 0,08 a 0,13. Este resultado se interpreta como un aporte de pruebas de la existencia de raíces históricas de las economías de aglomeración en Italia.

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  • Marco Percoco, 2014. "Path dependence, institutions and the density of economic activities: Evidence from Italian cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 53-76, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:93:y:2014:i:1:p:53-76
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2012.00470.x
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    1. Bertocchi, Graziella & Bozzano, Monica, 2016. "Women, medieval commerce, and the education gender gap," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 496-521.
    2. Torben Dall Schmidt & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Amber Naz, 2014. "New crops, local soils and urbanization: Clover, potatoes and the growth of Danish market towns,1672-1901," Working Papers 0065, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    3. Marco Percoco, 2012. "Entrepreneurship, Social Capital and Institutions: Evidence from Italy," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 339-355, September.
    4. Marco Percoco, 2013. "Geography, institutions and urban development: Italian cities, 1300–1861," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 50(1), pages 135-152, February.
    5. repec:mod:depeco:0007 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Marco Percoco, 2018. "Wealth inequality, redistribution and local development: The case of land reform in Italy," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(2), pages 181-200, March.
    7. Guido Alfani & Marco Percoco, 2019. "Plague and long‐term development: the lasting effects of the 1629–30 epidemic on the Italian cities," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1175-1201, November.
    8. Andrea Filippetti & Neil Lee, 2021. "Individual risk attitudes and local unemployment: evidence from Italy in the Great Recession," Working Papers 53, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Apr 2021.
    9. Giuseppe Albanese & Emma Galli & Ilde Rizzo & Carla Scaglioni, 2021. "Transparency, civic capital and political accountability: A virtuous relation?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 155-169, May.
    10. Giuseppe Albanese & Emma Galli & Ilde Rizzo & Carla Scaglioni, 2019. "Building the Glass House: Transparency and Civic Capital across Italian municipalities," Working papers 84, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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