Abstract

A "Handbook of Industrial Districts" is a fundamental book for whoever is interested in local development and industrial organisation, because the editors succeeded in producing a volume that provides an ample and up-to-date collection of the results achieved so far concerning industrial districts: 65 new essays by 78 authors from all over the world and with various disciplinary back grounds, including economists, sociologists, historians, geographers, and so on. Being impossible to consider all of them, after a brief presentation of the contents of the volume, in this review, I dwell on two contributions of general and topical value of the industrial district studies: the importance of social factors for economic performance, and the role of governance for economic development and social progress.