Abstract

The article examines the relationship between collective goods and the competitiveness of territories in two European regions. By means of comparison, it advances hypotheses in regard to the following research questions: What is the relationship between the production of collective goods and a territory's international competitiveness? Do the ways in which a territory produces collective goods like, for example, innovation and technology transfer condition its attractiveness in the global arena? The cases of Piedmont in Italy, and of Brittany in France, show that differing modes of production of these goods may have major impacts not only on the success of local economies but also on their international competitiveness.