L'Industrie italienne de locomotives, reflet d'une industrialisation tardive et difficile (1850-1914)

Abstract

[eng] Abstract : The paper examines how Italy has been successful in developing a particular industry : the steam locomotive industry. Until the early 1880s, the peninsola had to import successively locomotives from Great Britain (1850-1860) France (1860-1875) and Germany (1875-1885). The pioneer enterprises of Italy - Ansaldo and Stabilimento di Pietrarsa - could not product on large scale. But, during the period 1885-1905- the italian production took off thanks to several factors : the signature of the railway conventions in 1885 ; the intervention of the commercial banks created in 1894 (Banca Commerciale Italiana, Credito Italiano) ; the increase of the domestic market and the training of the unskilled manpower. New firms have been founded (Breda ; Costruzioni Meccaniche di Saronno ; Officine Meccaniche di Milano) and, before 1914, the national production was able to supply all locomotives to the State's railway administration. This take off could have been more important if protectionism «a rovescio» - protectionism that taxed more semimanufactured products than machinery - had not been adopted in 1887. [fre] Résumé : Cette communication a pour but de montrer comment l'Italie a réussi à développer une industrie bien particulière : l'industrie des locomotives. Jusqu'au début des années 1880, la péninsule dut faire appel successivement aux industriels britanniques (1850-1860) français (1860-1875) et allemands (1875-1885). Les deux entreprises pionnières - Ansaldo et les Etablissements de Pietrarsa - ne purent jouer qu'un rôle limité. Cependant, au cours de la période 1885-1905, l'Italie a vu sa production se développer sur une large échelle grâce à la conjonction de plusieurs facteurs : la signature des conventions ferroviaires de 1885 ; l'intervention des deux banques mixtes crées en 1894 (Banca Commerciale Itali ana Credito Italiano), l'accroissement de la demande intérieure et la formation de la main d'oeuvre. De nouvelles sociétés de construction sont apparues (Breda, Costruzioni Meccaniche di Saronno, Officine Meccaniche di Milano) et, à la veille de 1914, la production nationale couvrait les besoins des Ferrovie dello Stato. Cet essor aurait pu être plus important encore si le protectionisme «a rovescio» - protectionisme qui taxait davantage les produits semi-finis que les machines - n'avait pas été adopté en 1887.

Technical Change, Non-Tariff Barriers, and the Development of the Italian Locomotive Industry, 1850–1913

“…On the more successful Japanese case, see Ericson (1998). In the Italian case, the production of steam locomotives has been investigated by Merger (1986Merger ( , 1989, and, more recently, by Ciccarelli and Fenoaltea (2012). The works by Merger are mainly concerned with the production of national manufacturers in quantitative terms and do not consider in detail the technological performance of the different models of locomotives.…”

“…Using data on the number of locomotives, Michèle Merger (1986Merger ( , 1989 argues that the limited production of Italian manufacturers during the period 1861-1885 is due to three concomitant factors: the limited depth of technological capabilities of national rms, a lack of specialization leading to increasing costs, and the penalties induced by the tariff on iron. After 1885, with the new Railways Conventions, a new wave of investments took place.…”

“…These companies had been able to develop a certain base of engineering capabilities in locomotive building by virtue of different channels of knowledge transfer (recruitment of foreign personnel, travels abroad, and licensing of foreign patents), seeMerger (1986) andVasta (2002).…”

Technical Change, Non-Tariff Barriers, and the Development of the Italian Locomotive Industry,1850-1913

“…Source: see text. The interpretation put forward by Merger (1986Merger ( , 1989 relies, in a substantial way, on the type of evidence presented in Table 1 (and Figure 1). In her account, the limited number of locomotives produced in the period 1861-1885 is due to three concomitant factors: the limited depth of the technological capabilities of the national firms, the lack of specialization (increasing their costs), and the penalties induced by the tariff.…”

“…The second wave comprises the period and, in this phase, we witness the emergence, with varying fortunes, of the manufacturing of steam locomotives in Italy, Russia, Spain and Japan. 6 So far, the production of steam locomotives in Italy has been investigated by Merger in a series of contributions published during the 1980s (Merger, 1986(Merger, , 1989, and, more recently, by Ciccarelli and Fenoaltea (2012). The general framework adopted by Merger is that of a latecomer country that initially borrows advanced technologies from abroad and that, subsequently, tries to develop autonomous technological capabilities.…”