Luigi Burroni

Luigi Burroni is professor of Economic sociology and Comparative political economy at the University of Florence (Italy). He is the editor of the journal “Stato e Mercato” and director of the Research Unit “TIES - Trajectories of inclusion and growth in contemporary societies” of the University of Florence. Luigi Burroni has recently coordinated as principal investigator two research projects funded by the European Commission, on Active inclusion, industrial relations and labour market regulation, and on the Regulation of creative industries. His publications include articles in journals such as Economy and Society, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, European Journal of Industrial Relations, Socio-Economic Review, Stato e Mercato, Transfer. His most recent book on the analysis of growth and social inclusion in Europe has been published by Il Mulino (Capitalismi a confronto. Istituzioni e regolazione dell’economia nei paesi europei).

Research interests

Comparative political economy ; economic sociology ; local and regional development

Visiting projects and objective

Since the beginning of 2000s, a growing literature from different disciplines focused on the main features of different models of capitalism. Some of these works adopted a perspective which can be included in the ‘methodological nationalism’ approach, neglecting the internal differences that characterize each national case. This is the starting point of this research project, that tries to better specify different models of capitalism with an analysis of their trends and dynamics in terms of productive sectors (manufacturing, highly qualified services, high and medium intensity research and development activities, low productivity activities and low added value services, etc.) in 12 OECD countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Korea, Poland, Spain, United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden). This research path calls into question the traditional typologies of capitalism: for example, the model that has often been defined as continental includes France and Germany, that are characterized by notable differences in terms of sectorial growth models; strong differences can be found also in other models of capitalism, such as the Anglo-Saxon one. Why have these notable national/sectorial variations emerged? Why some sectors grow in some countries and not in others? What are the implications of different sectorial specialisation for growth and cohesion? He will try to answer to these questions focusing on the role of public and private action in supporting the sectorial specialisation and growth. As for the public action, he will focus on a) public policy support to high and low added value activities; b) the kind of policy instruments adopted; c) the quality of public intervention. As for the private intervention, he will show the importance for high added value activities of embedded large firms, large enterprises that are deeply rooted in a dense network of cooperative exchanges with other public and private actors. The analysis of the combination of these public and private mechanisms will help to explain the institutional foundations of different models of economic growth in advanced capitalism.

To know more

Link to Luigi Burroni personal webpage