Abstract

This article investigates structural change in Italy, taking into account the evolution of manufacturing and interindustrial linkages. In particular, the analysis aims to provide new findings on the extent and principal aspects of deindustrialization. According to the «vertical» perspective, the input-output tables for a set of vertically integrated sectors have been transformed, so the number of hours worked that directly and indirectly satisfy final demand for goods can be estimated. The findings concerning the distribution of hours worked obtained by applying a subsystem approach show large differences in comparison to the sectoral approach. On average, when we adopt a subsystem approach, the share of manufacturing rises by about ten percentage points in the economy as a whole. This result clearly underestimates the ability to generate employment in manufacturing. The links between the development of business services and their role in manufacturing are also explored.