No abstract

No abstract

This paper evaluates the extent of internationalisation of production between 1995 and 2006 for Italy and Germany. The analysis is based on a large set of indicators of international outsourcing including a new one, the direct and indirect import content of production, which also takes into account the import content of domestic inputs. In 2006 the intensity of international off-shoring was quite similar in the two countries, although slightly higher for Italian firms when only manufacturing was considered. From a dynamic point of view, between 1995 and 2000 the growth in off-shoring was substantial in both economies but stronger in Germany, which at least in manufacturing had started from a lower level. During the first years of the past decade the off-shoring intensity of the two economies stagnated, but in the last period under study their growth resumed at a fast pace, especially in Italy. This seems to suggest a change in strategies and a reorganisation of production in Italian firms. The new challenges posed by globalisation, by the diffusion of information and communication technologies, and by the adoption of the euro have induced the most dynamic Italian firms to rethink their organisation, including their degree of vertical specialisation.

No abstract

The Bank of Italy conducts a sample survey on international tourism at the country's main border crossings for balance-of-payments and analysis purposes. Each year a sample of international travellers (both foreigners in Italy and Italians abroad) who have crossed Italy's borders is interviewed; counting operations are carried out in order to determine the size of the reference population. Between 1997 and 2012 international tourism produced a surplus in Italy's balance of payments. Nonetheless, the tourism balance fell from 1.1 to 0.6 per cent of GDP, mainly due to the fall in real terms of foreigners' expenditure in Italy, whereas expenditure by Italians abroad remained practically unchanged as a share of GDP. As a result, the market share of Italian receipts decreased from 6.8 per cent in 1997 to 3.7 per cent in 2012. During the first years of the recent crisis, Italian international tourism receipts fell at a slower pace than those of its two main European competitors, France and Spain; but in 2011-12 their recovery was faster.