Valentina Morandi

Public policy for innovation and internationalization: are they worth it?

This study contributes to the debate about the role of industrial policies for innovation and internationalization on local economic performance. A panel data analysis on Italian regions examines the interrelationships between public grants, level of innovation and internationalization and economic performance. The main findings are that (1) the impact of pro-innovation policies on economic performance is higher in internationalized regions and (2) the level of local R&D expenditures does not contribute to the effectiveness of subsidies for internationalization.

Innovation and internationalisation: challenges for policy design

Mariasole Banno and Valentina Morandi analyse the Interactions between innovation and internationalisation policy at a regional level, and suggest that policymakers need to be more co-ordinated.

L’accordo open skies EU-U.S.: una prima valutazione degli effetti per l’Italia

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the effects of the EU-U.S. open skies agreement on the Italy U.S. air transportation market. The EU-U.S. open skies agreement, which came into force in March 2008, is an important example of the liberalization of the air transport industry the goal of which is to improve consumer welfare. Enabling any European carrier and any U.S. airline to fly between EU and U.S. destinations without restrictions on frequencies and fares is the first step in creating an EU-U.S. open aviation area. This agreement harmonizes the fragmented and diversified regulation on transatlantic market access in EU countries. The study focuses on passenger traffic in terms of both direct flights and one-stop flights from Italy to the U.S. to analyze the changes in competition and service quality induced by the EU-U.S. open skies agreement. A pre- and post deregulation comparison of the transatlantic market highlights that the number of flights and destinations decreased, while the service coverage in Italy improved. Moreover, although the number of carriers offering transatlantic services decreased, fewer routes are monopolized by only one carrier.