EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND INTERNAL ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: The Case of the Italian Manufacturing Industry 1971–1991

In the context of the New Economic Geography literature, this article focuses on the consequences of decreasing external trade costs on the localization of manufacturing activities within a single nation. The article studies how the internal economic geography of a specific country is affected by the reduction of trade barriers with other economies. Italian geographical employment data are used to test whether the changes in the industrial structure of Italian regions between 1971 and 1991 are consistent with those proposed by the theoretical models.