Deindustrialization and tertiarization: structural changes in North West Italy

The paper analyzes the recent evolution of the economies of the Italian North West, focusing on the phenomena of de-industrialization and the transition to a service economy. The comparison is made with a group of European regions defined as i?½advanced industrial.i?½ Results show that the sluggish economic growth of the North West (which has worsened in the last decade) has taken place in a context of heavy economic structural changes. Some of these, which are specific to the North West, seem to have further hampered the competitiveness of the area, such as a too slow transition towards technology-intensive manufacturing sectors and to knowledge intensive services. The international comparison shows persistent gaps regarding important factors for growth and innovation; among these, the small firm size, delays in the human capital accumulation, the weakness of the economic and financial situation of enterprises. Even in the long recession, we observe signs of dynamism, like some highly competitive firms and territories, which are able to compete even at international level.