Peeking Backward: Regional Aspects of Industrial Growth in Post-Unification Italy

Abstract

The new sectoral estimates of industrial production in 1871, 1881, 1901, and 1911 are regionally allocated using census labor-force data. The regional aggregates suggest that the “industrial triangle” emerged over these decades out of a traditional surplus-recycling economy. The concomitant change in the industrial rankings argues against attributing the regions' different paths to their different initial conditions; surprisingly, too, overall growth does not seem closely tied to industrial development. The disaggregated estimates suggest in turn that the industrial structure of the various regions remained relatively similar, as if comparative advantages were generically industrial rather than sector-specific.

Nutrition and growth in Italy, 1861–1911: What macroeconomic data hide

“…To the extent to which poverty, expressed in monetary terms, is positively correlated to undernutrition, the substantial decrease registered in the measures of undernutrition that emerges in this paper, is in line with the expectations of economists in the context of liberal Italy. The pro-urban and pronorth bias in the undernutrition reduction process is also consistent with Fenoaltea's (2003) recent study on the regional pattern of industrial growth, according to which starting from 1881 "in most of the southern regions (…) ******** See Federico (2003a) (2003b), andFenoaltea (2002). lagging industrial development seems to have dragged down the entire economy" [1082]. Our findings also agree with Federico's (2003a) improved estimates of agricultural output.…”

The rise and fall of spatial inequalities in France: A long-run perspective

“…Conversely, Ardennes, Calvados, Herault, and Seine-et-Marne are the primary losers in the wake of France's spatial restructuring, falling from the first class to the last two classes. 16 More precisely, classes are defined in such a way as to minimize the sum of their class-specific variances. 17 French départments are named in the map provided in the Appendix (See Figure A.1).…”

“…See, e.g. Good (1994), Esposto (1997), and Fenoaltea (2003). 2 The division of France into "départements" was adopted in 1790 during the French Revolution.…”

La stima e l'interpretazione dei divari regionali nel lungo periodo: i risultati principali e alcune tracce di ricerca

“…Più di vent'anni dopo, Stefano Fenoaltea è tornato a cimentarsi con la sfida, allocando fra le regioni italiane le sue stime della produzione industriale nazionale, attraverso i dati della forza lavoro maschile, come rilevata dai quattro censimenti della popolazione ovvero in quattro anni «benchmark» (1871,1881,1901,1911: cioè quelli dei censimenti) (Fenoaltea, 2003b …”