The Economics of Cars

The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. Since the late nineteenth century, it has embodied the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of societies, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and it has acted as a national barometer of economic success and failure.

This book explains how the car industry works and analyzes the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth, and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years—factories have shut down, jobs have gone, and brands and manufacturers have disappeared—yet world production has never been so high, reaching new peaks annually. Fabio Cassia and Matteo Ferrazzi investigate how western and Japanese manufacturers still dominate the market, despite the challenge posed by Korean, Chinese, and Indian competitors and how fluctuations in oil prices and changing environmental policies drive technological innovation and usage patterns, so that the composition of the sector is constantly changing.

Fabio Cassia is associate professor in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Verona.

Matteo Ferrazzi is currently manager of a leading financial institution. He has been a researcher at the Italian think tank Prometeia and senior economist at UniCredit. He is also adjunct professor at the Catholic University in Milan.