Statistics

Counterfactual thinking

Epistemology

Agriculture

Philosophy

Sociology

Business

Regional science

Demography

Economics

Matching (statistics)

Archaeology

Propensity score matching

Geography

Economic geography

Local Development

Population

Mathematics

Economic growth

Regional Studies

Can Geographical Indications (GIs) promote local economic development in rural areas? This paper explores the impact of GIs that identify and endorse agri-food products which are strictly embedded within the territory from which they originate. Examining Italian wine protected by GIs through an innovative dataset and by means of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences models make it possible to compare the local economic development trajectories of rural municipalities afforded GIs with the correspondent dynamics of a counterfactual group of similar municipalities without GI status since 1951. Rural municipalities with GIs experience population growth and economic reorganization towards non-farming sectors, which frequently involve higher value-added activities.

Geographical Indications and local development: the strength of territorial embeddedness