The long-term evolution of the regional manufacturing specialization in Italy

This paper contributes to the literature on the evolution of manufacturing specialization by analyzing a panel of Italian regions over the period 1951-2011. For this purpose, we create an original dataset combining seven different census data records on the Italian Industry released periodically by the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT). Our main findings highlight that three different dimensions, one economic, one connected to social networks and one related to the human capital, impact on the level of specialization in the Italian manufacturing sector although in a different way. Differences can be observed at both territorial and sectorial level.