1,721,163 research outputs found
Regional entrepreneurship and innovation: historical roots and the impact on the growth of regions
No full textThis paper proposes a conceptual framework in which a historical cultural environment based on scientific knowledge and creativity is an important driver of long-term regional entrepreneurship and innovation. These two factors, in turn, foster the growth of regions. This framework is empirically tested in Italy using current and historical data at the NUTS 3 geographical level and applying structural equation modeling to a system of three equations. The empirical evidence supports the conceptual framework and shows that the cultural environment has an indirect effect on regional growth through entrepreneurship and innovation. Historical scientific knowledge, proxied by the presence of universities, and past creativity, proxied by the presence of scientists and inventors in the area, positively affect long-term regional entrepreneurship and innovation. Regions with higher levels of entrepreneurship and innovation grow faster than other regions. Lastly, entrepreneurship plays a crucial role by also strengthening the positive impact of innovation on growth
Turnout and voting behaviour in constitutional referendums: a regional analysis of the Italian case
No full textThis paper investigates regional disparities of both turnout and voting behaviour in constitutional referendums. The analysis is undertaken at the NUTS-3 level and it considers the three constitutional referendums held in Italy in the period 2001–2016. It finds that turnout was lower in provinces with higher unemployment rates and where citizens had a stronger affiliation to opposition parties. These factors, along with level of government popularity, were important drivers of referendum results, especially in 2006 and 2016 when the referendums were rejected. In addition, while the three referendums implied different effects for rich and poor regions, mainly due to decentralization of powers, the local voting patterns did not reflect this. Overall, these findings suggest that the merit of the constitutional reforms played little part in explaining the outcome of the referendums
Cultural environment, entrepreneurship and innovation in europe. The importance of history
No full textThis paper proposes a conceptual framework in which the cultural environment is shaped by historical factors and, in turn, affects entrepreneurship and innovation in the long-term. To support this idea, we have described the scientific revolution that took place in Europe at the end of the Renaissance period, when social and religious tolerance, the power of the church and the attitude of elite groups towards scientific discovery spawned different cultural environments across European regions. In addition, using historical data at NUTS-3 geographical level in Europe, we estimated an econometric model to explore the long-term impact of regional knowledge base and creativity, two important aspects of the cultural environment, on actual economic drivers. The estimates suggest that the presence of universities in the past, our measure for historical knowledge base, and the number of scientists and inventors in the past, our measure for historical creativity, have a positive effect on current levels of regional entrepreneurship and innovation. The effects of creativity depend on the scientific field of the scientists and inventors
Speed of spending and government decentralization: evidence from Italy
No full textThis paper investigates whether government decentralization affects the duration of public projects in Italy. Considering a large sample of 415,378 projects managed by different levels of government and co-funded by European funds within the 2007–13 programming period, we found strong differences between areas. In the South and in some Central regions, project duration was higher for the lowest level of government and lower at more centralized levels. This suggests that decentralization there reduced the speed of public spending and therefore spending efficiency. In the North and in most Central regions, the results were mixed. These regional differences were driven by the quality of local institutions
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