Istat has published the results of a study in which a methodology was adopted to map national goods exports in relation to local area of origin via the integration of various annually updated databases (foreign trade, statistical archives of businesses and local units). This methodology uses Local Labour Market Areas (LLMAs) as units of territorial analysis to identify local areas and makes it possible to estimate the value of exports for each of the 686 LLMAs defined in the 2001 Census of Industry and Services and overcome the limitations of administrative area-based analysis.
In addition to providing detailed structural information on exports generated by LLMAs in 2007 (the last year for which complete information on the local locations of enterprises is available), the newly created database enables indicators to be constructed of the territorial dynamics of exports in recent years related to a representative set of exporters that were continuously active on foreign markets in the period 2007-2009.
Definitions are provided in the Glossary while methodological aspects are illustrated in the Information notes.