A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Fornoni, Ruggero et al. Research Report Economic Challenges of Lagging Regions IV: Case Studies wiiw Research Report, No. 424 Provided in Cooperation with: The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) - Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (wiiw) Suggested Citation: Fornoni, Ruggero et al. (2017) : Economic Challenges of Lagging Regions IV: Case Studies, wiiw Research Report, No. 424, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw), Vienna This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/204196 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu DECEMBER 2017 Research Report 424 Economic Challenges of Lagging Regions IV: Case Studies Roman Römisch (wiiw, coordinator), Ruggero Fornoni (Applica sprl.), Ben Gardiner (Cambridge Econometrics), Lydia Greunz (Applica sprl.), Nirina Rabemiafara (Applica sprl.), Jonathan Stenning (Cambridge Econometrics) and Terry Ward (Applica sprl.) The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche Economic Challenges of Lagging Regions IV: Case Studies ROMAN RÖMISCH (WIIW, COORDINATOR) RUGGERO FORNONI (APPLICA SPRL.) BEN GARDINER (CAMBRIDGE ECONOMETRICS) LYDIA GREUNZ (APPLICA SPRL.) NIRINA RABEMIAFARA (APPLICA SPRL.) JONATHAN STENNING (CAMBRIDGE ECONOMETRICS) TERRY WARD (APPLICA SPRL.) Roman Römisch is Research Economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw). Ben Gardiner is Director of Cambridge Econometrics. Jonathan Stenning is Associate Director of Cambridge Econometrics. Terry Ward is Director of Applica sprl. Ruggero Fornoni and Nirina Rabemiafara are Economic and Social Analysts at Applica. Lydia Greunz is Senior Economic Analyst at Applica. This report was produced as a part of the study 'Economic challenges of lagging regions' (Contract No. 2015.CE.16.BAT.053), funded by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission. It reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The authors wish to thank the Economic Analysis Unit of the DG Regional and Urban Policy, in particular Blazej Gorgol, Lewis Dijkstra, Eric von Breska, Laura de-Dominicis, Moray Gilland, Paola Annoni, Alexandros Karvounis, Angel Catalina-Rubianes and Julien Genet for their useful comments. The authors also wish to thank Ronald Hartwig and Loredana Sementini for administrative support. Abstract This report presents the findings of three case studies of lagging regions in the EU to deepen the findings of wiiw Research Reports 421 to 423. The three (NUTS 2) case study regions are the Italian Campania, the Portuguese Norte and the Romanian Nord-Est region. While each of these regions faces specific challenges due to their economic, social and geographic characteristics, they are at the same time to some extent representative of other EU regions that share similar characteristics and/or challenges. Each case study covers the economic development in the respective region, highlighting the main strengths and weaknesses in the region’s performance. Furthermore, each case study identifies the major, region-specific, causes of the observed developments. By focusing on those causes, each analysis develops a region-specific storyline on the success and failures in the regions’ economic development. Finally, each case study derives conclusions based on the above analysis. These conclusions should be indicative of potential development opportunities for each region and the necessary policy measures to overcome existing challenges in order to exploit these opportunities. Keywords: regional economic development, EU, lagging regions, regional policy, economic challenges, case study JEL classification: R10, R11, R58 CONTENTS 1. Project overview .............................................................................................................................................. 1 2. Purpose ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 3. Case study Campania ................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1. General characteristics, economic development, main strengths and weaknesses ........................8 3.2. Causes of underdevelopment and constraints ...............................................................................20 3.3. Potential development opportunities ..............................................................................................25 3.4. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................30 3.5. Annexes .........................................................................................................................................31 3.6. References .....................................................................................................................................33 4. Case study Norte .......................................................................................................................................... 36 4.1. General characteristics, economic development, main strengths and weaknesses ......................36 4.2. Causes of developments ...............................................................................................................51 4.3. Conclusions and policy recommendations .....................................................................................59 5. Case study Nord-Est .................................................................................................................................... 63 5.1. General characteristics, economic development, main strengths and weaknesses ......................63 5.2. Causes of developments ...............................................................................................................70 5.3. Framework conditions ....................................................................................................................76 5.4. Summary and conclusions in the light of current regional development strategies .......................87 5.5. Annex .............................................................................................................................................91 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1 / Total population (thousands) and % change in Italy, Campania and provinces, 2002-2016 .................................................................................................................................. 9 Table 3.2 / Total foreign population (15-64) and change in Italy and Campania, 2003-2016 .................... 9 Table 3.3 / Population and population density in Campania and provinces, 2016 ..................................... 9 Table 3.4 / GVA in Campania, 2000 and 2013, and in Italy, 2013 (% of total) ......................................... 10 Table 3.5 / Employment by sector in Campania, 2000 and 2013, and in Italy, 2013 (thousands and %) ................................................................................................................... 11 Table 3.6 / Employment rate, 15-64: EU-27, Italy, Campania and Mezzogiorno ..................................... 11 Table 3.7 / Overall, long-term and youth unemployment in southern Italian regions, 2015 ..................... 13 Table 3.8 / Total employment rate and employment rate for women, 20-64, Italy, 2015 ......................... 14 Table 3.9 / Highest educational level attained among people aged 25-34 in Italy, 2014 ......................... 16 Table 3.10 / Scholastic performance in reading and mathematics in Italian regions (% of 15-year-olds with a grade lower than I) .......................................................................... 16 Table 3.11 / Enterprise density, average size of enterprise and enterprise birth rate in the tradable sector, 2014 ............................................................................................................................. 17 Table 3.12 / Starting a business indicators in Italy, 2016 ......................................................................... 18 Table 3.13 /