Flexible Specialisation 20 Years On: How the 'Good' Industrial Districts in Italy Have Lost Their Momentum

Twenty-two years ago, Piore and Sabel (1984) identified a ‘second industrial divide’. Theaim of this paper is to propose some reflections, starting from that work, on the interactionbetween industrial organisation and institutional configurations as it has evolved in Italy inthe form of ‘industrial districts’ or ‘regional clusters’. Given that Piore and Sabel proposed anecessary change in institutions, our concern is whether the flexible specialisation model,characterising industrial districts and regional clusters, really requires institutions to haveless of a stabilising effect. Contrary to Piore and Sabel, we suggest that such systems do notbenefit from a general deregulation and from a substantial rise in uncertainty due to thedemise of stabilising institutions.