Università Roma Tre

The course is about the fourth industrial revolution. It focuses on the characteristics of business digitalization processes and their impact on organization and performance. In each topic, the analysis of empirical evidence will be central and supported by the presentation of the underlying theory related to the subjects under study. Particular attention will be dedicated to the Italian production system to understand the critical issues and opportunities for Italian companies in facing the digital transition.
Syllabus
Innovation and technological change;
The third industrial revolution: information and communication technologies;
The fourth industrial revolution: the advanced digital technologies;
The Artificial Intelligence;
Digital platforms: main characteristics of the platform business.
The Italian economic system and the digital transition;
Digital technology and firms’ productivity;
Firms’ size and digital technology;
Managerial ability, corporate governance and digitalization;
Financing conditions: the role of advanced technologies;
E-commerce;
Internationalization and digitalization;
Industrial policies
Next Generation EU and the Resilience and Recovery Plan;
From ndustry 4.0 plan to Transition 5.0
The evaluation impact of digitalization policies.

Besides these articles, a reading list will be provided during the course and available on the course Moodle
Andrews, D., G. Nicoletti and C. Timiliotis (2018), Digital technology diffusion: A matter of capabilities, incentives or both?, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 1476, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/7c542c16-en.
Banca d’Italia, Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy & Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze (2024), Gli incentivi in investimenti 4.0: una valutazione dell’impatto della misura, 2024, https://www.bancaditalia. it/pubblicazioni/altri-rapporti/2024-mef/Gli_incentivi_in_investimen- ti_4.0.pdf
Baroncelli A., Serio L. (2020), Economia e gestione delle imprese, Mc Graw Hill, Milano (chapter 14)
Bencivelli L.Formai S., E. Mattevi E., Padellini T. , Embracing the digital transition: The adoption of cloud computing and AI by Italian firms, Questioni di Economia e Finanza, Occasional papers Banca d’Italia, N. 946, 2025
Commissione Europea (2022), Indice di digitalizzazione dell’economia e della società, Italia,
Belleflamme P., Peitz M. (2021), The economics of platforms, Cambridge University Press, (chapter 1)
Eurofound (2018), Automation, digitalisation and platforms: Implication for work and employment, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxemburg
Giunta A., Mantuano M. (2025), Digitalizzazione in Italia: imprese e politica industriale, Economia Italiana, n. 3, 119-180
Giunta A., Rossi S. (2017), Che cosa sa fare l’Italia, Laterza, Bari (chapters: 2,3,4)
ISTAT (2023), Imprese e ICT, Istituto nazionale di statistica, Rome
Lotti F., Meliciani V. (2021) Dinamiche industriali, Bologna, Il Mulino, (chapters: V, IX, X)
McKinsey and Company (2023) The economic potential of generative AI, June
OECD (2022), Closing the Italian digital gap, OECD Science, technology and industry, policy papers, March n. 126
Malerba F. (2000), Economia dell’innovazione, Carocci publisher, Rome, (chapters: 1,5)
Pellegrino, B. and L. Zingales (2017), Diagnosing the Italian Disease, NBER Working Papers, No. 23964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, http://www.nber.org/papers/w23964.