Maggi, Rico Maggi, Federica 2020-11-05 This thesis contributes to the International Economics by considering how the openness of an economy and the linkages with other countries matter for the local economic growth. The first strength and the fil rouge of this study is the use of the economic complexity as a measure to identify the strategic sectors that generate larger spillovers and benefits to the economy. Secondly, the use of both country and local data allows to conduct a depth analysis of the phenomenon and to capture the distinct dynamics at different levels. This dissertation consists of three papers. The first one investigates how the Swiss imports of intermediates reacted to a change in the value of the Swiss Franc, with specific relevance to the sectors with a higher level of specialization and complexity. The second paper examines the Swiss attractiveness in the international market for other firms. Using local data, it has been investigated if the presence of multinationals attracts other multinationals in the same sectors or in related ones. To conclude, the third paper studies whether, in the Italian market, the local economic specializations, measured with the economic complexity index, are key drivers in the process of employment polarization and in predicting the corresponding demand, at the local level, for low-skilled service jobs. application/pdf https://susi.usi.ch/global/documents/319297 https://n2t.net/ark:/12658/srd1319297 https://susi.usi.ch/documents/319297/files/2020ECO012.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/urn/urn:nbn:ch:rero-006-119167 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/ark/12658/srd1319297 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Economic complexity Global value chain Intermediate products Switzerland Local currency appreciation Multinationals Sectoral distance Services and manufacturing Job polarization Low-skills service jobs Italian market Local labour market Level of openness Globalization Real exchange rate Gravity model Euro currency Peg exchange rate Swiss cantonal internationalization Product space info:eu-repo/classification/udc/33 Economic complexity and international market : How do they matter in the national dynamics? http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06