Role of industrial district externalities in export and value-added performance: Evidence from the population of Italian firms

BECCHETTI L., DE PANIZZA A. and OROPALLO E (2007) Role of industrial district externalities in export and value-added performance: evidence from the population of Italian firms, Regional Studies 41, 601 -621. The paper tries to shed light on the export and value-added performance of industrial districts by integrating information on the population of Italian firms (from the ASIA database of the Italian Statistical Institute) with balance sheet data for all limited-liability companies in selected manufacturing industries. The findings show that firms located in industrial districts (specialized or not in the leading manufacturing activity of the district) export more and have higher added value than firms located elsewhere, net of the impact of relevant controls. The robustness check undertaken on the agglomeration -performance nexus detects, as expected, a significant relationship between dichotomous district indicators and (global and industry-specific) continuous measures of agglomeration and specialization. Export and value-added performance results are confirmed when proxying location in industrial districts with these continuous variables and when considering the weight of subcontracting and outsourcing activities of productive units as additional controls.