## _wp1479

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---

### I. Introduction
- Italy’s economic performance deteriorated steadily since the 1990s; public debt already over 120 percent of GDP.
- Paper objective: comprehensive assessment of Italy’s external competitiveness with focus on export performance, considering both price/cost indicators and non-price factors (innovation, specialization, quality).
- Structure: present price- and cost-based indicators, augment them for global supply-chain context, analyze evolution of Italy’s export share, examine role of innovation, and conclude with implications for structural reform.

### II. The Italian Competitiveness Puzzle
- Main observation:
  - Long-term decline in growth and productivity since the 1990s.
  - Debate centers on declining productivity and deterioration in competitiveness (Unit Labor Costs—ULC—rising faster than productivity).
- Contrasting facts:
  - Italian exports have held up relatively well in value terms; Italy ranks highly in several tradable sectors.
  - WTO/UNCTAD Trade Performance Index: Italy top-ranked in textiles, clothing and leather goods; ranked second in non-electronic machinery and manufactures (basic and miscellaneous) behind Germany.
- Innovation-productivity distinction:
  - ICT revolution (mid-1990s) changed nature of global production and increased importance of innovation.
  - Two forms of competitiveness:
    - Technological competitiveness: new products, internal innovation (R&D, design).
    - Cost competitiveness: improved efficiency, lower labor costs.
- Industrial taxonomy:
  - Science-based industries (pharmaceuticals, high-end electronics, aviation).
  - Specialized Supplier industries (machine tools, precision instruments, specialized machinery).
  - Traditional industries (textiles, furniture, food, basic manufactures).
  - Scale-Intensive industries: technology-based (motor vehicles, transport equipment) and resource-based (industrial chemicals, refined petroleum products, basic metals, processed foodstuffs).
- Export mix observations:
  - Substantial weight of traditional products, large and stable share from specialized-suppliers.
  - Over past 15 years: shrinkage of traditional sector, growth in scale-intensive resource-based industries, stable specialized-supplier share similar to Germany or the United States.
  - Specialized-supplier sector characterized by small and medium firms with incremental innovation and high-margin, diversified products; organized in flexible networks/industrial districts.

### III. Price Competitiveness
- A. Unit Labor Costs vs. Price-Based Measures
  - ULC-based measures suggest competitiveness deterioration for Italy by up to 5 percent since euro adoption.
  - Germany shows improvement in competitiveness of nearly 20 percent (ULC-based).
  - PPI-based measures show a considerably narrower gap; Italy not materially less competitive than in 1999 by PPI-based measure.
  - Caveat: labor-cost measures may be incomplete due to globalization and decreasing share of domestically employed labor in total production costs; manufacturing wage shares fell sharply in Germany 1998–2007 but only marginally in Italy.
  - Rising wages may reflect higher-level jobs in an innovative economy; cost-based measures can overstate weakness.
- B. Supply-Chain Based Indicators
  - Alternative measures:
    - Value-added Real Effective Exchange Rate (VA-REER) adapts REER to competition in supply of value-added/tasks.
    - Modified price-based REER includes term reflecting outsourcing's role in offsetting domestic factor-price inflation.
  - For Italy (cumulative real appreciation, 1999–2012):
    - VA-REER assessment roughly matches standard CPI-based REER.
    - Both less pessimistic than unmodified ULC measure.
    - Modified price-based measure suggests an even less-marked decline.
  - Interpretation:
    - Rising factor costs in Italy have not translated into equivalent increases in relative export prices in part due to low-cost imports from low-inflation countries.
    - Germany: falling factor costs not fully matched by lower export prices because Germany imports many inputs from relatively high-inflation countries.
  - Conclusion: considering a wide range of indicators, Italy’s competitiveness challenge may be less severe than implied by cost-based measures alone.

### IV. Non-Price Competitiveness
- Quality Indicators
  - Evidence of quality upgrading:
    - Export unit values used as proxy for quality; averaging across all export sectors, Italy’s unit values are around 1½ times higher than the global mean.
    - Henn, Papageorgiou, & Spatafora (2013) produce sector-specific gravity-equation quality indicators showing Italy at the top of the global quality ladder across major exports, including traditional industries.
  - Micro evidence:
    - Manufacturing sector underwent significant restructuring over past 20 years, impacting export performance.
  - Mechanisms beyond prices:
    - Upgrading quality and composition of exports, seeking new destinations, building global reputation, outsourcing low value-added activities, identifying high-margin niches.

### V. Market-Share Dynamics
- A. Shift-Share Analysis (methodology)
  - Rationale: Adjust market-share growth for product-mix and geographic destination effects to isolate underlying competitiveness.
  - Approach: constant market-share analysis (CMSA) / shift-share analysis (SSA) via fixed-effects regression of detailed bilateral trade flows.
  - Dataset: reconciled bilateral trade flows for about 5000 HS 6-digit product headings over 1995–2011.
  - Decomposition yields three components:
    - Sectoral (product mix) component.
    - Geographical (destination mix) component.
    - Adjusted market share (performance) component reflecting price and non-price competitiveness.
  - Technical notes:
    - Uses midpoint growth rates to account for extensive margin (entry/exit).
    - Weighted OLS regression with exporter, importer, and product fixed effects for each year.
    - Indices normalized to measure deviations from sample average (world export growth).
- B. Results: Sources of Innovation and Market Share
  - Overall exports (1995–2007 and 2007–2011):
    - Italy’s share of world exports fell as emerging-market exporters expanded.
    - Precrisis (1995–2007): Italy oriented exports to high-growth destinations but had a product mix biased toward less-dynamic products; adjusted market share disappointing but broadly comparable to France and the United Kingdom and favorable relative to some peers.
    - Postcrisis (2007–2011): Europe-wide demand downturn; Italy additionally hampered by poor product mix; adjusted measure broadly in line with France or the United States.
  - Science-based industries:
    - Italy targeted products with better growth prospects and mostly maintained or increased market share, but adjusted market-share measure indicates an underlying lack of competitiveness; science-based exports constitute a small fraction of total exports.
  - Specialized suppliers:
    - Italy had some success focusing on high-growth products, but underlying competitiveness remains worrisome.
    - Sector competitiveness still fares favorably compared to France and the United Kingdom and is not far from Germany historically.
    - Concerns that structural impediments and changing global production (favoring larger-scale firms with global brands and finance access) may erode the advantages of small-firm specialized supplier networks.
  - Policy implication from sectoral findings:
    - If firm size and global reach are increasingly important, reforms to remove barriers to firm growth and encourage inward FDI are needed to support specialized-supplier and science-based sectors.

### VI. Conclusion
- Price-based measures (e.g., relative ULCs) are simple and policy-relevant but provide a partial view; globalization reduces the explanatory power of factor-price indicators for trade performance.
- Comprehensive assessment combining price, supply-chain aware measures, quality indicators, and adjusted market-share analysis provides a nuanced appraisal:
  - Italy’s underlying competitiveness is a concern, but perhaps not as critical as some cost-based measures imply.
  - Italy maintains a high-quality export mix and firm adaptability remains a source of strength.
  - Even innovative and flexible sectors are weighed down by structural impediments that have depressed overall productivity.
- Policy takeaway:
  - Future competitiveness depends on institutional and macroeconomic conditions that allow productive firms to innovate and expand.
  - Successful implementation of a full structural- and institutional-reform agenda is required to address labor- and product-market rigidities, high network-industry costs, and judicial inefficiencies.

### Table 1 and Structural Effects (selected numeric outcomes)
- Table 1 provides annualized growth, percentage points, for Market Share, Adjusted Market Share, Geography, and Product Mix across country groups and industry groups for 1995–2007 and 2007–2011.
- Selected figures (all numbers preserved as in source):
  - China, All Export Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share 8.6, Adjusted Share 12.8, Geography -1.8, Product Mix -2.0.
  - Italy, All Export Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.5, Adjusted Share -1.4, Geography 0.4, Product Mix -0.6.
  - Italy, All Export Industries: 2007-2011 Market Share -4.1, Adjusted Share -2.6, Geography -1.2, Product Mix -0.3.
  - Italy, Science-Based: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.2, Adjusted Share -4.7, Geography 0.2, Product Mix 3.4.
  - Italy, Science-Based: 2007-2011 Market Share 1.6, Adjusted Share -1.7, Geography -0.9, Product Mix 4.3.
  - Italy, Specialized Supplier: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.5, Adjusted Share -2.7, Geography 0.7, Product Mix 0.5.
  - Italy, Specialized Supplier: 2007-2011 Market Share -4.9, Adjusted Share -4.1, Geography -1.3, Product Mix 0.5.
  - Italy, Traditional Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share -2.2, Adjusted Share -2.5, Geography 0.5, Product Mix -0.3.
  - Italy, Traditional Industries: 2007-2011 Market Share -5.1, Adjusted Share -4.4, Geography 0.6, Product Mix -0.2.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Technology-Based): 1995-2007 Market Share -0.7, Adjusted Share -0.1, Geography -0.5, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Technology-Based): 2007-2011 Market Share 5.7, Adjusted Share -4.3, Geography -1.4, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Resource-Based): 1995-2007 Market Share -0.8, Adjusted Share -1.0, Geography 0.2, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Resource-Based): 2007-2011 Market Share 3.3, Adjusted Share 0.9, Geography -1.7, Product Mix 0.6.
- Source tables include analogous entries for China, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA across industry groups.

### Appendix: Shift-Share Analysis, Data, and Caveats
- Method details:
  - Step 1: Compute mid-point growth rates g_ickt to handle entry/exit; weights s_ickt are flow shares in total exports across the full sample.
  - Step 2: Fixed-effect regression (weighted OLS) of midpoint growth on exporter, importer, and product fixed effects for each year; one exporter, importer, and sector omitted to avoid perfect multicollinearity.
  - Step 3: Normalize estimated coefficients to quantify exporter performance relative to sample average (adjusted market share = competitiveness measure).
  - Aggregation yields decomposition of country export growth into adjusted export growth, geographical effect, and product-mix effect; cumulative changes obtained by summing annual growth rates.
- Data:
  - BACI product-level database (Gaulier & Zingano, 2010) based on COMTRADE: reconciled USD flow figures for more than 200 countries and roughly 5000 HS products.
  - Flows below USD10,000 and those involving micro states excluded; mineral, specific and nonclassified products excluded; 6-digit product data aggregated to 2-digit for regressions.
- Caveats:
  - HS 2-digit categories can include very large sets of products; within-category product mix effects may be captured by the residual (adjusted market share) rather than product-mix component.
  - Results may depend on choice of time-span and level of product breakdown.

*Source: IMF Staff calculations and analysis as presented in the provided content unit.*

### 1. Changes in World Market Share and Shift-Share Decomposition ......................................16

### 1. Changes in World Market Share and Shift-Share Decomposition ......................................16

### Figure
- Figure 1. Exports Shares, by Industry Group ........................................................................................7

### Appendix A
- A. Shift-Share Analysis and Competitiveness .........................................................................19

*Source: _wp1479 - 1. Changes in World Market Share and Shift-Share Decomposition ......................................16*

### References .............................................................................................................

### _wp1479 - References

### I. Introduction
- Italy’s economic performance deteriorated steadily since the 1990s; public debt already over 120 percent of GDP.
- Paper objective: comprehensive assessment of Italy’s external competitiveness with focus on export performance, considering both price/cost indicators and non-price factors (innovation, specialization, quality).
- Structure: present price- and cost-based indicators, augment them for global supply-chain context, analyze evolution of Italy’s export share, examine role of innovation, and conclude with implications for structural reform.

### II. The Italian Competitiveness Puzzle
- Main observation:
  - Long-term decline in growth and productivity since the 1990s.
  - Debate centers on declining productivity and deterioration in competitiveness (Unit Labor Costs—ULC—rising faster than productivity).
- Contrasting facts:
  - Italian exports have held up relatively well in value terms; Italy ranks highly in several tradable sectors.
  - WTO/UNCTAD Trade Performance Index: Italy top-ranked in textiles, clothing and leather goods; ranked second in non-electronic machinery and manufactures (basic and miscellaneous) behind Germany.
- Innovation-productivity distinction:
  - ICT revolution (mid-1990s) changed nature of global production and increased importance of innovation (Aghion, 2011; Bank of Italy, 2009; Crafts, 2012).
  - Two forms of competitiveness:
    - Technological competitiveness: new products, internal innovation (R&D, design).
    - Cost competitiveness: improved efficiency, lower labor costs (Bogliacino & Pianta, 2010).
- Industrial taxonomy (extended Pavitt, 1984; Kubielas, 2007):
  - Science-based industries (pharmaceuticals, high-end electronics, aviation).
  - Specialized Supplier industries (machine tools, precision instruments, specialized machinery).
  - Traditional industries (textiles, furniture, food, basic manufactures).
  - Scale-Intensive industries: technology-based (motor vehicles, transport equipment) and resource-based (industrial chemicals, refined petroleum products, basic metals, processed foodstuffs).
- Export mix observations:
  - Substantial weight of traditional products, large and stable share from specialized-suppliers.
  - Over past 15 years: shrinkage of traditional sector, growth in scale-intensive resource-based industries, stable specialized-supplier share similar to Germany or the United States.
  - Specialized-supplier sector characterized by small and medium firms with incremental innovation and high-margin, diversified products; organized in flexible networks/industrial districts.

### III. Price Competitiveness
A. Unit Labor Costs vs. Price-Based Measures
- Mixed signals from standard indicators:
  - ULC-based measures suggest competitiveness deterioration for Italy by up to 5 percent since euro adoption.
  - Germany shows improvement in competitiveness of nearly 20 percent (ULC-based).
  - PPI-based measures show a considerably narrower gap; Italy not materially less competitive than in 1999 by PPI-based measure.
- Caveat: labor-cost measures may be incomplete due to globalization and decreasing share of domestically employed labor in total production costs; wage-share dynamics differ across countries (manufacturing wage shares fell sharply in Germany 1998–2007 but only marginally in Italy; Giordano & Zollino, 2013).
- Rising wages may reflect higher-level jobs in an innovative economy; cost-based measures can overstate weakness.

B. Supply-Chain Based Indicators
- Alternative measures to account for global supply chains:
  - Value-added Real Effective Exchange Rate (VA-REER) adapts REER to competition in supply of value-added/tasks (Bems & Johnson, 2012).
  - Modified price-based REER includes term reflecting outsourcing's role in offsetting domestic factor-price inflation (Bayoumi, Saito, & Turunen, 2013).
- For Italy (cumulative real appreciation, 1999–2012):
  - VA-REER assessment roughly matches standard CPI-based REER.
  - Both less pessimistic than unmodified ULC measure.
  - Modified price-based measure suggests an even less-marked decline.
- Interpretation:
  - Rising factor costs in Italy have not translated into equivalent increases in relative export prices due in part to low-cost imports from low-inflation countries.
  - Germany shows the opposite: falling factor costs not fully matched by lower export prices because Germany imports many inputs from relatively high-inflation countries.
- Conclusion: considering a wide range of indicators, Italy’s competitiveness challenge may be less severe than implied by cost-based measures alone.

### IV. Non-Price Competitiveness
A. Quality Indicators
- Evidence of quality upgrading:
  - Export unit values used as proxy for quality; averaging across all export sectors, Italy’s unit values are around 1½ times higher than the global mean.
  - Henn, Papageorgiou, & Spatafora (2013) produce sector-specific gravity-equation quality indicators showing Italy at the top of the global quality ladder across major exports, including traditional industries.
- Micro evidence:
  - Manufacturing sector underwent significant restructuring over past 20 years, impacting export performance (Leichter, Mocci, and Pozzuoli, 2011).
- Mechanisms of competitiveness beyond prices:
  - Upgrading quality and composition of exports, seeking new destinations, building global reputation, outsourcing low value-added activities, identifying high-margin niches.

### V. Market-Share Dynamics
A. Shift-Share Analysis (methodology)
- Rationale: Adjust market-share growth for product-mix and geographic destination effects to isolate underlying competitiveness.
- Approach: constant market-share analysis (CMSA) / shift-share analysis (SSA) via fixed-effects regression of detailed bilateral trade flows (Cheptea, 2005; Bricongne et al., 2013).
- Dataset: reconciled bilateral trade flows for about 5000 HS 6-digit product headings over 1995–2011 (Gaulier & Zingano, 2010 / BACI database).
- Decomposition yields three components:
  - Sectoral (product mix) component.
  - Geographical (destination mix) component.
  - Adjusted market share (performance) component reflecting price and non-price competitiveness.
- Technical notes:
  - Uses midpoint growth rates to account for extensive margin (entry/exit).
  - Weighted OLS regression with exporter, importer, and product fixed effects for each year.
  - Indices normalized to measure deviations from sample average (world export growth).

B. Results: Sources of Innovation and Market Share
- Overall exports (1995–2007 and 2007–2011):
  - Italy’s share of world exports fell as emerging-market exporters expanded.
  - Precrisis (1995–2007): Italy oriented exports to high-growth destinations but had a product mix biased toward less-dynamic products; adjusted market share disappointing but broadly comparable to France and the United Kingdom and favorable relative to some peers.
  - Postcrisis (2007–2011): Europe-wide demand downturn; Italy additionally hampered by poor product mix; adjusted measure broadly in line with France or the United States.
- Science-based industries:
  - Italy targeted products with better growth prospects and mostly maintained or increased market share, but adjusted market-share measure indicates an underlying lack of competitiveness; science-based exports constitute a small fraction of total exports.
- Specialized suppliers:
  - Italy had some success focusing on high-growth products, but underlying competitiveness remains worrisome.
  - Sector competitiveness still fares favorably compared to France and the United Kingdom and is not far from Germany historically.
  - Concerns that structural impediments and changing global production (favoring larger-scale firms with global brands and finance access) may erode the advantages of small-firm specialized supplier networks.
- Policy implication from sectoral findings:
  - If firm size and global reach are increasingly important, reforms to remove barriers to firm growth and encourage inward FDI are needed to support specialized-supplier and science-based sectors.

### VI. Conclusion
- Price-based measures (e.g., relative ULCs) are simple and policy-relevant but provide a partial view; globalization reduces the explanatory power of factor-price indicators for trade performance.
- Comprehensive assessment combining price, supply-chain aware measures, quality indicators, and adjusted market-share analysis provides a nuanced appraisal:
  - Italy’s underlying competitiveness is a concern, but perhaps not as critical as some cost-based measures imply.
  - Italy maintains a high-quality export mix and firm adaptability remains a source of strength.
  - Even innovative and flexible sectors are weighed down by structural impediments that have depressed overall productivity.
- Policy takeaway:
  - Future competitiveness depends on institutional and macroeconomic conditions that allow productive firms to innovate and expand.
  - Successful implementation of a full structural- and institutional-reform agenda is required to address labor- and product-market rigidities, high network-industry costs, and judicial inefficiencies. 

### Table 1 and Structural Effects (selected numeric outcomes)
- Table 1 provides annualized growth, percentage points, for Market Share, Adjusted Market Share, Geography, and Product Mix across country groups and industry groups for 1995–2007 and 2007–2011.
- Selected figures (all numbers preserved as in source):
  - China, All Export Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share 8.6, Adjusted Share 12.8, Geography -1.8, Product Mix -2.0.
  - Italy, All Export Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.5, Adjusted Share -1.4, Geography 0.4, Product Mix -0.6.
  - Italy, All Export Industries: 2007-2011 Market Share -4.1, Adjusted Share -2.6, Geography -1.2, Product Mix -0.3.
  - Italy, Science-Based: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.2, Adjusted Share -4.7, Geography 0.2, Product Mix 3.4.
  - Italy, Science-Based: 2007-2011 Market Share 1.6, Adjusted Share -1.7, Geography -0.9, Product Mix 4.3.
  - Italy, Specialized Supplier: 1995-2007 Market Share -1.5, Adjusted Share -2.7, Geography 0.7, Product Mix 0.5.
  - Italy, Specialized Supplier: 2007-2011 Market Share -4.9, Adjusted Share -4.1, Geography -1.3, Product Mix 0.5.
  - Italy, Traditional Industries: 1995-2007 Market Share -2.2, Adjusted Share -2.5, Geography 0.5, Product Mix -0.3.
  - Italy, Traditional Industries: 2007-2011 Market Share -5.1, Adjusted Share -4.4, Geography 0.6, Product Mix -0.2.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Technology-Based): 1995-2007 Market Share -0.7, Adjusted Share -0.1, Geography -0.5, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Technology-Based): 2007-2011 Market Share 5.7, Adjusted Share -4.3, Geography -1.4, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Resource-Based): 1995-2007 Market Share -0.8, Adjusted Share -1.0, Geography 0.2, Product Mix 0.0.
  - Italy, Scale-Intensive (Resource-Based): 2007-2011 Market Share 3.3, Adjusted Share 0.9, Geography -1.7, Product Mix 0.6.
- Source tables include analogous entries for China, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA across industry groups.

### Appendix: Shift-Share Analysis, Data, and Caveats
- Method details:
  - Step 1: Compute mid-point growth rates g_ickt to handle entry/exit; weights s_ickt are flow shares in total exports across the full sample.
  - Step 2: Fixed-effect regression (weighted OLS) of midpoint growth on exporter, importer, and product fixed effects for each year; one exporter, importer, and sector omitted to avoid perfect multicollinearity.
  - Step 3: Normalize estimated coefficients to quantify exporter performance relative to sample average (adjusted market share = competitiveness measure).
  - Aggregation yields decomposition of country export growth into adjusted export growth, geographical effect, and product-mix effect; cumulative changes obtained by summing annual growth rates.
- Data:
  - BACI product-level database (Gaulier & Zingano, 2010) based on COMTRADE: reconciled USD flow figures for more than 200 countries and roughly 5000 HS products.
  - Flows below USD10,000 and those involving micro states excluded; mineral, specific and nonclassified products excluded; 6-digit product data aggregated to 2-digit for regressions.
- Caveats:
  - HS 2-digit categories can include very large sets of products; within-category product mix effects may be captured by the residual (adjusted market share) rather than product-mix component.
  - Results may depend on choice of time-span and level of product breakdown.

*Source: IMF Staff calculations and analysis as presented in the provided content unit.*

### References

### _wp1479 - References

### Books and Monographs
- Aghion, P., and P. Howitt, 2009, “The Economics of Growth,” (MIT Press).
- Ginsborg, P., 2003, “Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State,” (Palgrave Macmillan).
- Porter, M., 1990, “The Competitive Advantage of Nations,” (Free Press: New York).
- Pavitt, K., 1984, “Sectoral Patterns of Technical Change: Towards a Taxonomy and a Theory,” Research Policy, Elsevier, Vol. 13(6), pp. 343–73.

### IMF and Other Working Papers; Policy and Research Papers
- Bayoumi, T., J.Turunen, and R.T.Harmsen, 2011, “Euro Area Export Performance and Competitiveness,” IMF Working Paper 11/140, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Bayoumi, T., M.Saito, and J.Turunen, 2013, “Measuring Competitiveness: Trade in Goods or Tasks?” IMF Working Paper 13/100, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Bems, R., and R.C. Johnson, 2012, “Value-Added Exchange Rates,” NBER Working Paper 18498, (National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc).
- Henn, C., C. Papageorgiou, and N. Spatafora, 2013, “Export Quality in Developing Countries,” IMF Working Paper 13/108, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Lissovolik, B., 2008, “Trends in Italy's Non-price Competitiveness,” IMF Working Paper 08/124, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Crafts, N., 2012 “Western Europe’s Growth Prospects: A Historical Perspective,” CEPR Discussion Paper 8827.
- Manasse, P., 2013, “The Roots of the Italian Stagnation,” CEPR Policy Insight No.66, (Centre for Economic Policy Research).
- Di Mauro, F., R. Rüffer, and I. Bunda, 2008, “The Changing Role of the Exchange Rate in a Globalised Economy,” Occasional Paper Series, No 94, (European Central Bank).
- European Central Bank, 2012, “Competitiveness and External Imbalances within the Euro Area,” Occasional Paper Series 139.

### Italy-focused Reports, Studies, and Mimeo
- Bank of Italy, 2009, “Reports on Trends in the Italian Productive System,” Occasional Paper No.45 (Bank of Italy: Rome).
- Codogno, L., 2009, “Two Italian Puzzles: Are Productivity Growth and Competitiveness Really so Depressed?” Working Paper 2009–2, (Department of the Treasury, Italian Ministry of the Economy and of Finance).
- Craft s, N., and M. Magnani, 2011, “The Golden Age and the Second Globalization of Italy,” Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Paper) No.17, (Bank of Italy: Rome).
- Leichter, J., C. Mocci, and S. Pozzuoli, 2011, “Measuring External Competitiveness: An Overview,” in Measuring Italy’s External Competitiveness, ed. by L. Codogno and L.Paganetto, (Rubinetto: Rome).
- Giordano, C. and F. Zollino, 2013, “The Divergent Behaviour of Different Competitiveness Indicators for Italy: An Assessment,” Bank of Italy, mimeo.
- Lissovolik, B., 2008, “Trends in Italy's Non-price Competitiveness,” IMF Working Paper 08/124, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).

### Trade, Competitiveness, and Export Performance Studies
- Cheptea, A., G.Gaulier, and S. Zignago, 2005, “World Trade Competitiveness: A Disaggregated View by Shift-Share Analysis,” Working Paper 2005–23, CEPII Research Center.
- Cheptea, A., L. Fontagné, and S. Zignago, 2012, “European Export Performance,” Working Paper 393, (Banque de France).
- Bricongne, J., L.Fontagné, G. Gaulier, D.Taglioni, and V.Vicard, 2012, “Firms and the Global Crisis: French Exports in the Turmoil,” Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, Vol. 87(1), pp. 134–46.
- Gaulier, G., D.Taglioni, and S. Zignago, 2013, “Export Performance in the Wake of the Global Crisis: Evidence from a New Database of Competitiveness Indicators”, mimeo.
- Bayoumi, T., J.Turunen, and R.T.Harmsen, 2011, “Euro Area Export Performance and Competitiveness,” IMF Working Paper 11/140, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Bayoumi, T., M.Saito, and J.Turunen, 2013, “Measuring Competitiveness: Trade in Goods or Tasks?” IMF Working Paper 13/100, (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
- Bems, R., and R.C. Johnson, 2012, “Value-Added Exchange Rates,” NBER Working Paper 18498, (National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc).

### Innovation, Productivity, and Knowledge Spillovers
- Bogliacino, F., and M. Pianta, 2010, “Innovation and Employment: a Reinvestigation Using Revised Pavitt Classes,” Research Policy, Elsevier, Vol. 39(6), pp. 799–809.
- Kubielas, S., 2007, “Geographical and Sectoral Pattern of Knowledge Spillovers and Productivity Growth in Polish Industry,” Paper for the DIME Workshop on Agglomeration and Growth in Knowledge-Based Societies, April 20–21, 2007, (IfW: Kiel).
- Pavitt, K., 1984, “Sectoral Patterns of Technical Change: Towards a Taxonomy and a Theory,” Research Policy, Elsevier, Vol. 13(6), pp. 343–73.
- Porter, M., 1990, “The Competitive Advantage of Nations,” (Free Press: New York).

### Miscellaneous, Commentary, and Fragments in the List
- Eichengreen, B., 2011, “The Big Cannoli,” Euro Intelligence, October 17, 2011.
- The 1994–2007 Version,” Working Papers 2010–23, (CEPII Research Center).
- Leichter, J., C. Mocci, and S. Pozzuoli, 2011, “Measuring External Competitiveness: An Overview,” in Measuring Italy’s External Competitiveness, ed. by L. Codogno and L.Paganetto, (Rubinetto: Rome).

*Source: _wp1479 - References*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2014/_wp1479.pdf_