The purpose of the Quaderni di Storia Economica (Economic History Working Papers) is to promote the circulation of preliminary versions of working papers on growth, finance, money, institutions prepared within the Bank of Italy or presented at Bank seminars by external speakers with the aim of stimulating comments and suggestions. The present series substitutes the Quaderni dell'Ufficio Ricerche storiche (Historical Research Papers). The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not involve the responsibility of the Bank.

This article examines energy consumption, the transition from organic to fossil energy carriers, and the consequent emissions of CO2 over a period of almost 150 years (1861-2000) in Italy and Spain. The author's reconstruction and analysis of CO2 emissions are based on new series of energy consumption including both traditional and modern energy carriers. The article shows that traditional energy carriers should also be taken into account in long run series of pollution intensity of energy use, pollution intensity of the economy, decarbonisation, and other indicators in order to achieve a clearer interpretation of the processes involved. In this work, the authors first present time series of primary energy consumption, final energy consumption, and energy intensities of Italy and Spain for the period 1861-2000. Then several CO2 indicators for both countries are introduced: total emissions, emissions per capita, pollution intensity of energy (decarbonisation) and pollution intensity. The aim is to investigate whether a decoupling of CO2 emissions, economic growth, and per capita energy consumption can be observed historically: if so, what the factors underlying this development are. Last but not least, these findings could be used to draw some conclusions on further potential development paths, and notably as to whether it is possible to consume more energy per capita and produce more output per capita at lower levels of emissions. Finally, the authors employ a Divisia index perfect decomposition analysis to scrutinize differences in totalemissions between the two countries. Decomposition analysis, particularly Divisia index based decomposition, has found application in a wide array of fields: aggregate energy indexes, total energy-related CO2, CO2 per unit of GDP. To reach an in-depth understanding of the forces underlying different trends in CO2 emissions, however, decomposition analysis will have to be at the per capita level.

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the banking crises recorded in Italy in the period 1861-2016 and to propose a novel classification based upon the timing of the crisis with respect to the business cycle. Design/methodology/approach A simple and objective rule to distinguish between slowdown and inner-banking crises is introduced. The real impact of banking crises is evaluated by integrating the narrative approach with an empirical vector autoregression analysis. Findings First, banking crises are not always associated to economic downturns. Especially in Italy, (but this analysis can be easily extended to other countries), they have often limited their negative effects within the financial system (“inner” crises). Second, the simultaneity of macroeconomic effects (credit contraction and GDP recession) leave the causal link undetermined. Third, the empirical and narrative analyses performed testify that boom–bust mechanisms are an exception in the panorama of (Italian) banking crises; although when the economy experiences such episodes, the economic and social consequences are not only severe but also enduring. Research limitations/implications To classify historically recognized banking crisis episodes, the authors look at credit and GDP dynamics (and their ratio) around crisis years. Relying on a single definition of crisis is avoided. The classification provides an empirical rule to determine in what way banking crises differ. The classification is mostly based on the synchronization with the business cycle and, using the documented evolution of macroeconomic aggregates, it permits to highlight the fact that a variety of interactions occur between financial and real aggregates during and around banking crises. Originality/value As to the concept of systemic banking crisis, a qualitative judgment is often adopted to select relevant episodes, thus confirming the absence of a quantitative rule in classification criteria (Chaudron and de Haan, 2014). This paper proposes a simple and objective rule to distinguish between slowdown and inner-banking crises; the former occur close to a GDP contraction, whereas the latter appear to spread their effects with no substantial evidence of output loss.

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