Place-based policies and capital structure in the South of Italy

Productivity gaps between northern and southern Italian regions have been widening over recent years. In this paper, we provide some evidence-based suggestions to support and boost the Italian Government's measures for reducing regional disparities, such as the special economic zone and other place-based fiscal measures to stimulate private investments. We found asymmetrical effects of using equity to increase tangible investment according to company size, and an inverted U-shape pattern for the impact of loans. We argue that the tax rules and benefits of SEZs and other measures should be coupled with a deeper knowledge of companies' capital structure peculiarities.