Italy and the First Age of Globalization, 1861-1940

Abstract

The paper presents trade policy as in line with that of other continental European powers, with a move to moderate levels of tariff protection for politically sensitive sectors such as steel and textiles and clothing, but also in agriculture, with levels of protection falling slightly before the First World War. Monetary policy was similarly driven by the constraints of capital scarcity, and by the political priority attached to reducing the cost of funding government debt. The most innovative area was probably in industrial policy, where after the 1880s and again in the 1930s in response to severe shocks, quite creative institutional policies were adopted. In particular financial restructuring was used as an opportunity to reshape the structure of industry.

What Do We Really Know about Protection before the Great Depression: Evidence from Italy

“…We begin this article with a short description of Italian trade policy comparing levels of NT in Italy to other countries to argue that Italy was fairly representative of the historical pattern of NT for the Great Powers of Continental Europe (James and O'Rourke 2013). Then we sketch out the method to estimate the TRI P , discussing the potential biases of the results and providing essential information on sources we use.…”