Presentation by Carlo Menon, Economist, Trento Centre for Local Development, CFE, OECD at the 21st OECD Spatial Productivity Lab meeting on "Rebooting regional productivity: from analysis to policy", held in virtual format on 18 October 2023. This webinar focused on recent initiatives from the Basque Country in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Trentino in Italy, where the analysis of subnational economic data is used to compare productivity performance across regions, understand which economic and social factors drive regional productivity, and how regional productivity links to other economic and social outcomes. More OECD information: https://oe.cd/SPL Visit our website: www.oecd.org/cfe Follow us on Twitter: @OECD_local

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THE PRODUCTIVITY BOARD
OF THE AUTONOMOUS
PROVINCE OF TRENTO
Institutional setting and planned activities
Carlo Menon, Coordinator, Spatial Productivity Lab, OECD Trento Centre for Local Development

2. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | OECD Trento Centre
Trentino and the OECD Trento Centre
• The Autonomous Province of Trento is a mountainous region in
northern Italy with a population of 540k people
• diverse economic structure, high standard of living
Trentino
• Data analysis and research: Investigating the dynamics of local
development
• Capacity building: Supporting local practitioners on a global scale
The OECD Trento
Centre
• Focuses on productivity of places to understand local and regional
growth dynamics
• Cooperates with a network of 15+ partners across the OECD
The OECD Spatial
Productivity Lab

3. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Trentino’s productivity growth has been almost flat
since 2000
GDP per worker, constant prices (EUR2015)

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The Trentino productivity board: institutional setting
4
Created through legislation by the local Council: a “first” in Italy
3-year mandate with periodic reports and public fora
Supported by a Scientific Committee and a group of local
stakeholders, coordinated by the OECD Spatial Productivity Lab
Leverages a shared database with unique micro-data from
administrative sources

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A joint effort with local partners
Autonomous Province of
Trento
Scientific committee
Chamber of
Commerce
Provincial
statistical office
Bank of Italy
FBK-IRVAPP
University di
Trento
Employment
agency
Stakeholder group
Trade
associations Labour unions
Employer
associations
OECD Trento
Centre
Spatial
Productivity Lab

6. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | OECD Trento Centre
From analysis to policy recommendations
6
Detailed analyses
of the local
economy by the
scientific
committee
Periodic
consultations with
local stakeholders
Reports,
dissemination of
findings and open
discussions
Policy
recommendations
to the Provincial
Council

7. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | OECD Trento Centre
HOW TO REBOOT TRENTINO’S
PRODUCTIVITY?
Preliminary insights from a comparison with OECD “peer” regions

8. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Productivity drivers: benchmarking Trentino with peers
Regional GDP, per worker real ppp
Regional GDP, per capita real ppp
↓ ― ↑ ― ↓
↓ ↑ ↑ ― ↓
Share of female managers
Activity rate Gender gap, 15+
Youth Unemployment Rate (% unemployment 15-24
over labour force 15-24)
Unemployment Rate (% unemployed over labour
force 15+)
Employment Rate (% employment 15+ over
population 15+)
↓ ― ― ? ?
↓ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
↑ ↑ ↓ ― ↓
― ― ↓ ― ―
Share of population 25 to 64 year-olds with
tertiary education
↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓
Skills and talent
Labour market
GDP
Level
relative to peers 5 year change
5 year change
relative to peers 10 year change
10 year change
relative to peers
↑ ― ↓ ?
Better than peer/improving Same as peer/stable Worse than peer/falling behind Missing data
Regional GDP, per worker real ppp
Regional GDP, per capita real ppp
↓ ― ↑ ― ↓
↓ ↑ ↑ ― ↓
Share of female managers
Activity rate Gender gap, 15+
Youth Unemployment Rate (% unemployment 15-24
over labour force 15-24)
Unemployment Rate (% unemployed over labour
force 15+)
Employment Rate (% employment 15+ over
population 15+)
↓ ― ―
↓ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
↑ ↑ ↓ ― ↓
― ― ↓ ― ―
Labour market
GDP
Level
relative to peers 5 year change
5 year change
relative to peers 10 year change
10 year change
relative to peers
↑ ― ↓ ?
Better than peer/improving Same as peer/stable Worse than peer/falling behind Missing data

9. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
The manufacturing sector could help fill the gap…
// // // //
2.2M
1.7M
3.3M 1.5M
Financial and insurance
activities
Real estate activities
Prof., scientific,
techn. activities,
admin., support service
activities
Public admin.,
compulsory s.s.,
education, human health
Other services
Agriculture, forestry
and fishing Manufacturing and energy Construction
Trade and hospitality
services
Information and
communication
2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019
2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019 2001 2019
0
50 000
100 000
150 000
200 000
250 000
0
50 000
100 000
150 000
200 000
250 000
Trentino Peer regions
GVA per worker (USD2015, PPP)
Trentino’s
manufacturing
sector accounts for
a smaller share in
the economy and
has a lower
average
productivity relative
to peers
Trentino’s
largest sectors
have
contributed
little to
productivity
growth

10. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
…By unleashing the potential of the largest
and most productive firms
Medium-high tech manufacturing
Medium-low tech manufaturing and
extractive industries
10th 25th 50th 75th 90th 10th 25th 50th 75th 90th
0
100 000
200 000
300 000
Productivity percentile
Trentino Peer regions
GVA per worker at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile

11. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local | OECD Trento Centre
Thematic analyses under discussion with the scientific committee
11
The productivity of micro firms
Attracting and retaining skills
Can decentralised bargaining improve productivity?

12. 
Twitter: @OECD_local
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/oecd-local
Website: www.oecd.org/cfe & www.trento.oecd.org
Blog: oecdcogito.blog
Thank you for your attention
Carlo.Menon@oecd.org
Alessandra.Proto@oecd.org
Wessel.Vermeulen@oecd.org

13. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Benchmarking Trentino with peer regions
Wiener Umland/Südteil
Arr. Antwerpen
Arr. Nivelles
Böblingen
Braunschweig, Kreisfreie Stadt
Ithaca, Cephalonia
Boeotia
Mid-West
Overig Groningen
IJmond
0
50 000
100 000
150 000
200 000
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Trentino Peers Other regions Country average
GDP per worker (USD2015 PPP) , 2001

14. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Trentino belongs to a group of wealthy regions that are
losing ground
Wiener Umland/Südteil
Arr. Antwerpen
Arr. Nivelles
Böblingen Braunschweig, Kreisfreie Stadt
Ithaca, Cephalonia
Boeotia
Mid-West
Overig Groningen
IJmond
Wealthy but losing ground
Wealthy and growing
Converging
Growing gaps
-2.5
0.0
2.5
5.0
40 000 100 000 200 000
GDP/worker (real, ppp, USD2015), in 2019 (log scale)
Average
GDP/worker
growth
2001-2019
Trentino Peers Other regions Median