Italian cities: definitions, characteristics and growth

Andrea Lamorgese and Andrea Petrella ()

No 454, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: One of the salient features of economic development is its pronounced urban dimension. As in other advanced economies, most economic activity in Italy is concentrated in urban areas: in 2001, the 73 urban Local Labor Markets (LLM) produced 62 percent of Italian value added. Since the 1980s, Italian urban agglomerations have increased in size, both in economic terms and in terms of occupied area, absorbing a growing number of municipalities. This process is reflected in the rising contribution of urban LLMs to the aggregate dynamics of population, employees, plants and income. Urban areas stand out for being better able to attract high-skilled workers, for having a higher concentration of innovative activity and for being more specialized in knowledge-intensive services (KIS). Even net of observable characteristics, cities maintain a performance advantage with respect to non-urban areas: in terms of labor productivity, the urban premium is nil for industry and it amounts to 3 percent for services.

Keywords: agglomeration economies; urban growth; urban productivity premium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 R11 R23 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-sbm and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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