LIBRI DI ANDREA CONTE

The conference of the Italian Regional Science Association (AISRe), held in September 2022 in Milan, provided a great opportunity to reflect on the local responses to the important challenges that European territories are facing, with a main focus on local and regional economic systems. It highlights some of the ways in which cities and regions are grappling with the transformative processes imposed by disruptive challenges, such as shifts in labour markets and working conditions, the increasing urgency of environmental concerns and the push for resource-efficiency and decarbonization.

The XLII AISRe Conference called the Italian community of regional and urban scientists to debate on the long-term consequences, issues and challenges imposed by the coronavirus global emergency. In a world already characterized by increasing social inequalities, the pandemic is likely to exacerbate the rise of disparities. Limited mobility, the restricted access to public services such as schools and hospitals, and the higher uncertainty generated by the healthcare emergency hit more severely those individuals in a condition of relative economic, occupational, and educational disadvantage.

Is Italian R&D spending becoming more efficient? - The recent economic downturn is putting increasing pressure on governments to improve the quality of their public finances. Using macro-economic data on R&D expenditures and patents, this paper aims to determine whether business and government R&D spending has become more efficient over time and in comparison to other EU countries. Descriptive evidence is coupled with empirical estimates of cross-country efficiency of R&D expenditure calculated by the Stochastic Frontier Analysis. .

Keywords: R&D, patents, efficiency, public finance
Parole chiave: R&S, brevetti, efficienza, finanza pubblica.

Jel Classification: O33 - H50 - C23