Abstract

The paper deals with the resilience of the Italian economy after the recent economic recession, in the aim of investigating the determinants of regional resilience and the role played by geographical proximity on regional economies. The results show a strong polarization between non-resilient and resilient regions. In resilient regions, innovation has been the main resilience driver. On the other hand, non-resilient regions are characterized by a less dynamic social economic structure. Moreover, spatial spillovers before and after the 2007 economic shock characterize the group of non-resilient regions Regional policies should take these spatial effects into considerations.