Trademarks and regional growth: evidence from Italy in the last twenty years

Trademarks play a crucial and underexplored role in market dynamics, extending beyond legal protection to shape competition, consumer behavior and economic growth. Their increasing relevance aligns with globalization, digitalization, and knowledge-based industries. By signaling authenticity, quality and variety, trademarks enhance differentiation and firm competitiveness. As well, consumers’ brand-loyalty provides great strategic advantages and may constitute entry barriers. This paper introduces trademarks as a new indicator of soft innovation but also of both firm and national wealth, building on existing literature. This study explores the link between trademark activity and economic performance in the 21st century, a period of recurring recessions, technological shifts and international harmonization. The research focuses on Italy, one of the countries most affected by recent crises, also highlighting the macroeconomic dynamics driven by EU policies. In this context, trademarks are a key tool for Italian companies to support their competitiveness by leveraging their cultural heritage and the Marde in Italy label. The study combines theoretical insights, descriptive analysis, and empirical investigation to evaluate any correlation between trademark applications and economic trends, using a dataset of 19 regional IP offices from 2002 to 2022. Controlling time effects and structural discrepancies, results evidence significant and positive correlation with regional economic accounts, signaling the ability of trademarks in describing territorial wealth. Findings contribute to research in regional industrial activity and the evolving literature on trademarks.