IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hes/wpaper/0123.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Still a long way to go: decomposing income inequality across Italy’s regions, 1871 – 2011

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Cappelli

    (Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

  • Emanuele Felice

    (Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic-Quantitative Sciences, Università “G. D’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara)

  • Julio Martínez-Galarraga

    (Departament d’Anàlisi Econòmica, Universitat de València)

  • Daniel Tirado

    (Departament d’Anàlisi Econòmica, Universitat de València)

Abstract

This article is the first study to explore to what extent labour productivity, structural change, participation rates and the age structure of the population contributed to the pattern of Italy’s regional economic inequality over the long run (1871-2011). We provide brand new regional estimates of participation rates and age structures, as well as the most updated figures on per capita GDP, per worker GDP and the employment rate (at ten-year intervals spanning from 1871 to 2011). First, regional inequality in per capita GDP (Y/N) is split into labour productivity (Y/L) and labour-market features (L/N). Then, the Caselli-Tenreyro decomposition is used to explore whether labour-productivity convergence (or divergence) at the NUTS-1 level was determined within or between sectors, and by labour reallocation. While labour productivity was central to the pattern of Italy’s regional development until the 1970s, since then the key factor of North-South divergence has been the participation rate. The results confirm the central role of national and local policies, influencing per capita GDP via productivity, employment, and participation rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Cappelli & Emanuele Felice & Julio Martínez-Galarraga & Daniel Tirado, 2018. "Still a long way to go: decomposing income inequality across Italy’s regions, 1871 – 2011," Working Papers 0123, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ehes.org/EHES_123.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emanuele Felice & Amedeo Lepore, 2017. "State intervention and economic growth in Southern Italy: the rise and fall of the ‘Cassa per il Mezzogiorno’ (1950–1986)," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(3), pages 319-341, April.
    2. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    3. Emanuele Felice & Michelangelo Vasta, 2015. "Passive modernization? The new human development index and its components in Italy's regions (1871–2007)," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 44-66.
    4. Rui Esteves & David Khoudour-Castéras, 2009. "Remittances, Capital Flows and Financial Development during the Mass Migration Period, 1870-1913," Working Papers 2009-12, CEPII research center.
    5. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    6. Puga, Diego, 1999. "The rise and fall of regional inequalities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 303-334, February.
    7. Philippe Martin & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Growing locations: Industry location in a model of endogenous growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 1, pages 3-24, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Allen, Robert C., 2011. "Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199596652.
    9. Anna Missiaia, 2016. "Where do we go from here? Market access and regional development in Italy (1871–1911)," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 215-241.
    10. Fenoaltea,Stefano, 2014. "The Reinterpretation of Italian Economic History," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107658080, July.
    11. Slaughter, Matthew J, 1997. "Per Capita Income Convergence and the Role of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 194-199, May.
    12. Carlo Ciccarelli & Stefano Fachin, 2017. "Regional growth with spatial dependence: A case study on early Italian industrialization," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 675-695, November.
    13. Emanuele Felice, 2007. "I divari regionali in Italia sulla base degli indicatori sociali (1871-2001)," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(2), pages 359-406, March-Apr.
    14. Matthew J. Slaughter, 1997. "Per Capita Income Convergence and the Role of International Trade," NBER Working Papers 5897, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Carlo Ciccarelli & Stefano Fenoaltea, 2013. "Through the magnifying glass: provincial aspects of industrial growth in post-Unification Italy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(1), pages 57-85, February.
    16. Julio Mart�nez-Galarraga & Joan R. Ros�s & Daniel A. Tirado, 2015. "The Long-Term Patterns of Regional Income Inequality in Spain, 1860-2000," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 502-517, April.
    17. Gabriele Cappelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2016. "Does centralisation foster human capital accumulation? Quasi-experimental evidence from Italy’s Liberal Age," Working Papers 16021, Economic History Society.
    18. Emanuele Felice & Giovanni Vecchi, 2013. "Italy’s Growth and Decline, 1861-2011," CEIS Research Paper 293, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 11 Oct 2013.
    19. Gabriele Cappelli, 2016. "One size that didn’t fit all? Electoral franchise, fiscal capacity and the rise of mass schooling across Italy’s provinces, 1870–1911," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 10(3), pages 311-343, September.
    20. Francesco Giffoni & Matteo Gomellini, 2015. "Brain gain in the age of mass migration," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 34, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    21. Henry Thompson, 2000. "Economic Integration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Economics Global Markets and International Competition, chapter 9, pages 298-334, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Missiaia, 2019. "Market versus endowment: explaining early industrial location in Italy (1871–1911)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(1), pages 127-161, January.
    2. Carlo Ciccarelli & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Pioneering into the past: Regional literacy developments in Italy before Italy," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 329-364.
    3. Monica Bozzano & Gabriele Cappelli, 2019. "The legacy of history or the outcome of reforms? Primary education and literacy in Liberal Italy (1871-1911)," Department of Economics University of Siena 801, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. Gabriele Cappelli, 2016. "One size that didn’t fit all? Electoral franchise, fiscal capacity and the rise of mass schooling across Italy’s provinces, 1870–1911," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 10(3), pages 311-343, September.
    5. FE, Doukouré Charles, 2010. "Réduction de Droits de Douane et Convergence Réelle dans l'UEMOA [Tariffs Reduction and Real Convergence in WAEMU]," MPRA Paper 26763, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Görkemli Kazar & Altuð Kazar, 2015. "Is “Harmonious Development” Valid for European Union Regions?," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(4), pages 954-967.
    7. Theresa Grafeneder-Weissteiner & Klaus Prettner, 2009. "Agglomeration and population aging in a two region model of exogenous growth," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp125, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    8. Alessandro Nuvolari & Michelangelo Vasta, 2017. "The geography of innovation in Italy, 1861–1913: evidence from patent data," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 326-356.
    9. Biswajit Mohanty & N. R. Bhanumurthy, 2018. "Regional growth policy experience in India: the spatial dimension," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 479-505, August.
    10. Uzma Zia, 2019. "An Evidence of Diverging SAARC Economies," PIDE-Working Papers 2019:170, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    11. Emanuele Felice, 2011. "The determinants of Italy's regional imbalances over the long run: exploring the contributions of human and social capital," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _088, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Vaseem Akram, 2018. "Does export diversification converge? Evidence from cross-country analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 2141-2151.
    13. Alfonso Díez‐Minguela & Rafael González‐Val & Julio Martinez‐Galarraga & M. Teresa Sanchis & Daniel A. Tirado, 2020. "The long‐term relationship between economic development and regional inequality: South‐West Europe, 1860–2010," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 479-508, June.
    14. Farhad Rassekh, 1998. "The Convergence Hypothesis: History, Theory, and Evidence," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 85-105, January.
    15. Ming Yu Cheng & Ron Mittelhammer, 2008. "Globalization and Economic Development: Impact of Social Capital and Institutional Building," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(5), pages 859-888, November.
    16. Emanuele Felice, 2015. "La stima e l’interpretazione dei divari regionali nel lungo periodo: i risultati principali e alcune tracce di ricerca," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3), pages 91-120.
    17. Carlo Ciccarelli & Alberto Dalmazzo & Daniela Vuri, 2018. "Home Sweet Home: the Effect of Sugar Protectionism on Emigration in Italy, 1876-1913," CEIS Research Paper 437, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 Jun 2018.
    18. Ben-David, Dan & Loewy, Michael B, 1998. "Free Trade, Growth, and Convergence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 143-170, June.
    19. Emanuele Felice & Josep Pujol Andreu, 2013. "GDP and life expectancy in Italy and Spain over the long-run (1861-2008): insights from a time-series approach," UHE Working papers 2013_06, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    20. Ivanovski, Kris & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "A club convergence analysis of per capita energy consumption across Australian regions and sectors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 519-531.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Regional disparities; Italy; convergence; divergence; Caselli-Tenreyro; economic history; productivity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O25 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
    • N9 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehessea.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Paul Sharp (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehessea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.