Wiley-Blackwell After the Three Italies: Wealth, Inequality and Industrial Change: 59 (RGS-IBG Book Series)

After the Three Italies develops a new political economy approach to the analysis of comparative regional development and the territorial division of labour and exemplifies it through an up-to-date account of Italian industrial change and regional economic performance. Responds to recent theoretical debates in economic geography, involving economists, geographers and planners. Builds the foundations for a new theoretical approach to regional economic development and the territorial division of labour. Draws on the results of a recent ESRC funded research project, as well as on a large range of official data sets. Provides an up-to-date picture of Italy‘s economic performance and of its recent development relative to other European countries and the rest of the world. Analyses Italy's internal differentiation and its persistent regional inequalities. Examines the regional impact of the recent evolution of the car, chemicals, steel and clothing industries. Leads to a new and more complex picture of Italian development. Review "In their analytically original study, Dunford and Greco show that Italy today is divided predominantly into two regions (north and south) and that the development path of each region must necessarily be understood in relation to that of the other. These findings have major significance for political-economic geography well beyond the Italian case." --John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles "A welcome and detailed dissection of the changing geography of economic growth and decline in Italy, that demonstrates the importance and theoretical value of understanding the dynamic micro-foundations of regional economic change." --Professor Peter Sunley, School of Geography, University of Southampton "The book is, in sum a good example of theoretically informed empirical research in economic geography, which is aware of and inspired by but also not unconditionally adhering to the dominant theories and approaches in the discipline ... The book by Dunford & Greco is one of these attempts aiming to bring together empirical analysis of regional economies and the social critique of global capitalism. The authors have accomplished this difficult task in a brilliant way and for this reason their book is ultimately recommended reading not only to those interested in issues of regional development in Southern Europe but more generally to all practitioners of economic geography and related disciplines." --Royal Dutch Geographical Society From the Inside Flap After the Three Italies provides a novel synthesis of the literature on convergence and the new economic geography, and develops a new political economy approach to the analysis of the territorial division of labour. New theoretical and methodological approaches are exemplified through an up-to-date account of Italy‘s economic performance and of its recent development relative to other European countries and the rest of the world. Grounded also in the animated recent discussion of Italian development, and drawing on the results of recent ESRC-funded research, as well as on a large range of official data sets, the authors provide a new and more complex picture of Italian industrial change and regional economic performance. From the Back Cover After the Three Italies provides a novel synthesis of the literature on convergence and the new economic geography, and develops a new political economy approach to the analysis of the territorial division of labour. New theoretical and methodological approaches are exemplified through an up-to-date account of Italy‘s economic performance and of its recent development relative to other European countries and the rest of the world. Grounded also in the animated recent discussion of Italian development, and drawing on the results of recent ESRC-funded research, as well as on a large range of official data sets, the authors provide a new and more complex picture of Ital