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Convergence among Italian Regions, 1861-2011

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  • Giovanni Iuzzolino

    () (Bank of Italy, Naples Branch)

  • Guido Pellegrini

    () (Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza")

  • Gianfranco Viesti

    () (Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")

Abstract

In 150 years, the trends in regional disparities in economic development within Italy have differed depending on whether they are gauged by longitude or by latitude. The disparities between western and eastern regions first widened and then closed; the North-South gap, by contrast, remains the main open problem in the national history of Italy. This work focuses on the underlying causes of the turning points in regional disparities since national unification in 1861. The first came in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with the industrialization of the so-called "industrial triangle". This was followed by the "failed new turn" during the interwar years: not only were the beginnings of convergence blocked but the North-South gap, until then still natural, inevitable, was transformed into a fracture of exceptional dimensions. The second turning point, in the twenty years after the World War, produced the first substantial, lasting convergence between southern and northern Italy, powered by rising productivity and structural change in the South. The last turning point was in the mid-1970s, when convergence was abruptly halted and a protracted period of immobility in the disparity began.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area in its series Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) with number 22.

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Date of creation: Oct 2011
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Handle: RePEc:bdi:workqs:qse_22

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Keywords: Italy; regional disparities;

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  1. Tito Bianchi & Guido Pellegrini & Mauro Masselli, 2008. "L'efficacia economico-sociale dei Contratti di Programma. I risultati di una ricerca valutativa," RIVISTA DI ECONOMIA E STATISTICA DEL TERRITORIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2008(3), pages 5-27.
  2. Francesco Pigliaru & Luciano Mauro, 2011. "Social Capital, Institutions and Growth: Further Lessons from the Italian Regional Divide," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1866, European Regional Science Association.
  3. Iuzzolino Giovanni & Menon Carlo, 2011. "Industrial Agglomeration in the North East: Signals of Discontinuity in Two Thousand Years," L'industria, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 4, pages 615-654.
  4. Clough, Shepard B. & Livi, Carlo, 1956. "Economic Growth in Italy: An Analysis of the Uneven Development of North and South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(03), pages 334-349, September.
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  10. Leandro Conte & Giuseppe Della Torre & Michelangelo Vasta, 2007. "The Human Development Index in Historical Perspective: Italy from Political Unification to the Present Day," Department of Economics University of Siena 491, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
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Cited by:
  1. Francesco Aiello & Valeria Pupo & Fernanda Ricotta, 2012. "Explaining Tfp At Firm Level In Italy. Does Location Matter?," Working Papers 201202, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Statistiche e Finanziarie (Ex Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica).
  2. Paola Cardamone & Valeria Pupo & Fernanda Ricotta, 2012. "University And Firm Performance In The Italian Manufacturing Sector," Working Papers 201207, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Statistiche e Finanziarie (Ex Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica).
  3. Guido Maria Rey & Luisa Picozzi & Paolo Piselli & Sandro Clementi, 2012. "Una revisione dei conti nazionali dell'Italia (1951-1970)," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 27, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
  4. Emanuele Felice & Giovanni Vecchi, 2012. "Italy’s Modern Economic Growth, 1861-2011," Department of Economics University of Siena 663, Department of Economics, University of Siena.

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