An inquiry into the interindustrial structure of a regional economy: the Friuli-Venezia Giulia case

Recent years have seen a significant redirection of research effort in regional Input/Output tables and analyses. While the issue concerning compilation, that originally dominated the literature, has not been completely solved, other challenging questions have been recently raised. A further important line of research is the use of Input/Output tables as a dataset into the analysis and description of the nature of economies. This dissertation is an inquiry into the interindustrial structure of a small open regional economy (Friuli Venezia Giulia) in Eastern Italy. The closeness of this region to Austria and Jugoslavia, and the magnitude of flows with the other Italian regions urge to study the characteristics of interindustrial transactions. The essay is divided in two parts. The first one tries to detect the degree of interrelatedness between sectors in both Friuli Venezia Giulia and th Rest of the country. The most well know is triangularization. An algorithm is applied in order to obtain an arrangement of sectors, via permutation of rows and columns, that should show the existence of a “fundamental structure”. The qualitative matrix algebra and graph theory are used to determine how and how much final demand influence is channeled between sectors. The second part of the dissertation try to establish the existence of key or dominant industries. These should propel regional growth or, in the short run, explain the behavior of regional cycles. Different indices developed within the linkage debate are applied.