Trade and change: A meso perspective from four Italian provinces

We investigate the evolution of the economy of the four provinces of the Marche region using information derived from international trade flows. Although mainly descriptive, the analysis reveals several aspects on the changes of their economic structure associated to economic growth. We first compare the Marche provinces’ features to the ones of other Italian provinces; this evidences a loss of export shares, but also an intensity of structural change in line with that of the Italian provinces and a positive evolution in terms of the complexity/sophistication of the goods produced. Nevertheless, a comparison with the dynamics of several international emerging and dynamic economies reveals that the pace of evolution in the Marche region is for some aspects slower than what is probably possible.