Economia Marche Journal of Applied Economics Vol. XXXIII, No. 2, December 2014 Kinship and economic crisis in the shoe district of the Marche region M. Blim CUNY Graduate Center, City University of New York G. Goffi Osservatorio Mercato del Lavoro, Regione Marche Abstract This paper investigates the extent to which kin groups can play a creative role in affecting the occupational choices of new(er) generations of workers and small business people in environments undergoing significant economic stress. Analysis of three extended cases of intergenerational changes in kin group occupational choices from among those included in a longitudinal study of the shoe industrial district in the Marche region of central Italy suggests that kin groups have helped their members anticipate future problems in local job markets and supported individual designs of careers with more promise than sticking with the shoe industry might have presented earlier generations. Renewed emphasis on the importance of the social context in economic decision-making affords a closer, and in some respects better look at the possible future directions of local economies in transition. JEL Classification: L67; O14; R11; Z13 Keywords: Family firms; Small business; Kinship; Shoe district; Industrial districts; Third Italy; Economic crisis. Affiliations and acknowledgements Gianluca Goffi, Osservatorio Mercato del Lavoro Regione Marche. E-mail: gianluca.goffi@regione.marche.it. Michael Blim, Professore Ordinario di Antropologia Economica e Culturale, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY. E-mail:
[email protected]. Il presente lavoro `esvolto nell'ambito delle attivit`apreviste dell'Osservatorio del Mercato del Lavoro della Regione Marche (sito e pubblicazioni: http://www.istruzioneformazionelavoro.marche.it/Osservatorioregionalemercatodellavoro.aspx, G.