Agglomeration Economies in the Italian ICT Sector: The Structural Features

This paper aims to analyse the structural features of the ICT sector in Italy, along with the presence of agglomeration economies. The adoption of principal component analysis (PCA) enabled us to highlight the specificities of the ICT sector in Italy. In particular, our study provides a picture of the features of the ICT sector in Italy as a whole, especially in the urbanized provinces. Moreover, this study reveals the existence of provinces characterized by a high level of competition where new firms tend to be localized. Finally, in line with previous literature on the topic, our empirical analysis shows that urbanized provinces in Italy are characterized by specialization in the ICT sector as well as a higher level of new firm birth.