Cristiana Fiorelli (p), Massimo Giannini, Barbara Martini

In macroeconomics, the international (or intra-national) risk-sharing framework assumes that country(region)-specific shocks cannot be avoided, but their effects can be distributed over other countries (regions) to reduce their impact on domestic consumption.
The literature focusing on the performance of federations in terms of absorbing capacity of asymmetric shocks considering mechanisms for intertemporal risk-sharing (consumption-smoothing). The seminal papers of Asbrubali et al. (1996) and Sørensen & Yosha (1998) started a long series of studies on the risk sharing channels across US states and EA countries. Among others, Afonso & Furceri (2008) and Furceri & Zdzienicka (2015) measure the risk sharing taking place across euro area countries after the '80s, finding that more than 60% of the shocks were not smoothed in the EA. There are a few contributions that analyse the risk-sharing in Italy (Decressin, 2002; Gandullia & Leporatti, 2019) and the most of them focus mainly on the role of transfers between central and local government, overlooking the functioning of others risk-sharing channels.
From this perspective, this paper aims to determine the level of risk sharing among Italian regions, studying the smoothing capacity of consumption through the different channels before and after the financial downturns. For this scope, we develop a typical empirical framework of risk sharing to investigate the behaviour of the channels through which the idiosyncratic shock absorption occurs. Particularly, we determine the level of total risk sharing among regions reached by the risk-sharing channels, namely factor income (compensation and rents), capital depreciation, fiscal transfers, and credit market. As suggested by the literature, we follow the approach proposed by Asdrubali et al. (1996). This consists of applying a variance decomposition of shocks to GDP in order to quantify the share of smoothing achieved via the various channels. It is based on national accounting and the starting point is the disaggregation of regional GDP into gross regional income (GNI), net regional income (NI), net regional disposable income (DIS) and private and public consumption. The data are available from Regional Economic Accounts provided by ISTAT and Regional Public Account System.
Our findings suggest that there are a high level of risk sharing among Italian regions. About the 75 percent of region-specific shocks are smoothed by risk-sharing channels. The labour mobility and interregional earnings fows represents the main mechanism for absorbing the shocks. In crisis periods, the smoothing increases until to reach the level between the 80 and 85 percent.

Anna Lundgren (p), Alex Cuadrado , Jukka Teräs

The importance of human capital and skills for economic growth and development is illustrated by the way it is highlighted in international strategies, such as the EU 2020 Agenda and in national and regional strategies aiming at regional growth and development. It is also widely recognized in economic research (e.g. Romer 1989). Despite the fact that the Nordic countries in an international perspective are performing well on indicators relating to economic growth and development and that the unemployment rate is towards the lower end (Grunfelder, Rispling and Norlén, 2018), there are important differences among the Nordic regions, and skills and jobs are high on the political agenda also in the Nordic countries. Global trends such as ageing population, urbanisation and immigration influence and have important implications for economic growth and development.

However, the notion of skills is complex. The definition of skills depends both on which theoretical perspective is taken (Bryson, 2017) and on the context (Toner, 2011), and here we use the European Commission’s understanding of skills as a pathway to employability and prosperity (European Commission, 2016).

In this empirical we delve into five case study regions to study how regions work with skills, one case study in each of the Nordic countries; Värmland (Sweden), North Karelia (Finland), Hedmark og Oppland/ Innlandet (Norway), Norðausturland (Iceland) and Region Hovedstaden (Denmark). Who are the main actors working with skills? How do actors in the regions work with skills assessment in order to provide adequate skills to the needs of the labour market? How do they work with skills mismatch? And how is skills governance organised?

Skills polices are cross-sectoral, i.e. they cut across educational policy, labour market policy, and regional economic growth and development policy. They also materialize in a multi-level context of institutions, policies and actors at the national, regional and local levels. This complex landscape suggests significant governance challenges in the regions as regards coordination, possible conflict of goals, efficiency, legitimacy and accountability. The aim of this paper is to bring to light enabling and hampering factors for skills development and skills governance, and to discuss how a regional ecosystem for skills governance can be developed.

Raphael Bar-El (p)

De-globalization and innovation

In the last years, we identify a strong tendency of increasing open innovation (OI) strategies, expressed by increasing openness to linkages at both the local and the international level. The recent signs of de-globalization may impose significant constraints on such trends.
Our hypothesis is that de-globalization has a potential negative impact on the advance of innovation, and that it may intensify innovation gaps between rich and poor regions. We use a cross-country analysis, based on data for 137 countries from the Global Innovation Index (GII), in order to estimate the influence of a few variables that indicate international linkages on some indicators of innovation.
Based on a simple analytical model, we make a distinction between the creation of knowledge as measured by patents application and the creation of innovation outputs, as measured by production of innovative products, by increased productivity, by the commercialization of knowledge (IP receipts). Various models of regression analysis show that some of the practical expressions of de-globalization such as the diminution of imports or exports of high-tech products or of information and communications technologies (ICTs) may lead to a decreasing innovation activity, both in terms of knowledge creation and in terms of practical economic impacts.
A comparison of relative coefficients indicates higher impacts for poorer regions. The dependence of low-income countries on foreign resources, and their reliance on technology imports and adoption lead to a potentially higher negative impact of a de-globalization process.

Sandra D'agostino (p), Silvia Vaccaro

Among the objectives pursued by the Alpine macro-regional strategy (EUSALP), which involves 48 Regions from seven European countries, there is the promotion of a sustainable growth and innovation. As a common and characterizing sector of all Alpine area’s VET systems, the dual education can be effective for enhancing the quality of training and promoting an inclusive labor market.
The mega-trends of innovation affecting the most advanced economies - globalization, technological progress, digitization, demographic evolution - pose similar challenges to the dual systems of the EUSALP Regions, despite the different architectures of VET. To win these challenges, adequate policies are needed, addressing different users (businesses, young people, families), focusing on the quality of the training and close links with businesses and the education system.
Resuming the results of a recent action-research project conducted in the framework of EUSALP, we analyze the impacts of these mega-trends on the dual systems of the Alpine space’s countries, looking at the policies adopted and results achieved. At the end of the mentioned project, ten recommendations were agreed in the Joint Declaration signed in November 2018, intended as work paths all Alpine countries refer to, in order to strengthen their dual systems in coping with the mega-trends and move toward a common Education area.
Building up on this experience, we reflect on the effectiveness of MRSs as tools for an enhanced trans-regional cooperation in the field of dual education, exploring its limits as well. Among others, two elements appear more relevant: identifying feasible objectives in a subsidiarity perspective for such a tool of cooperation and considering the impact on “external” regions, to limit any fragmentation of the political action and to avoid increasing imbalances.
Then, with the help of experts from Eusalp regions interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire and focusing on the topics at the center of the European debate on the future of VET - governance, attractiveness, permeability, quality of training, technological innovation, transnational mobility -, we identify areas and actions where an effective cooperation among the Alpine regions can be more effectively pursued in the framework of a MRS, in order to emphasize territorial experiences and specificities within a broader view to cohesion and sustainability.