INDUSTRIAL POLICY 2.0: la frontiera del digitale, gli Stati Uniti e il dibattito sull’intervento di governo

The thesis develops four main topics, which are: industrial policies applied to new information technologies (industrial policy 2.0); the digital frontier (seen as the most likely development path for advanced economies in the next years); the United State; and finally, the academic and policy debate about government’s intervention in order to fix market failures and to lead the change. The research question that are developed in the thesis are: to what extent “digital infrastructures” (broadband) influence the development and change of contemporary economic systems? If their effects are positive, as most of the literature seems to show, should the government intervene to lead and drive the change realized through the web? The methodological approach used to explore these topics is broad in the sense that it tries to integrate different analytical perspectives; which are: theory, seen through a literature review; history, to narrate the events that had influenced economic and social development in USA; empirical work, meaning that in the last part of the thesis two econometric models are built to explore the effects of digital technologies on civic engagement and entrepreneurship. In the conclusions of the thesis, it would be clear that the broadband is a relevant strategic asset of economic and social change; however, its action must be combined with other relevant assets, such as human and social capitals.