IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/usi/wpaper/802.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can school centralisation foster human capital accumulation? A quasi-experiment from early XX century Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Cappelli
  • michelangelo.vasta@unisi.it

Abstract

This paper shows that a shift towards a more centralized school system can benefit countries characterized by poor levels of human capital and large regional disparities in education. In 1911, Italy moved from a fully decentralized primary-school system towards centralisation through the Daneo-Credaro Reform. The Reform design allows us to compare treated municipalities with provincial and district capitals, which retained school autonomy. Our quasi-experiment, based on Propensity Score Matching (PSM), shows that centralisation substantially increased the pace of human capital accumulation. Treated municipalities were characterized by a 0.43 percentage-point premium on the average annual growth of literacy between 1911 and 1921. We discuss some of the channels through which the new legislation affected primary schooling and literacy, with important implications for long-term economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Cappelli & michelangelo.vasta@unisi.it, 2019. "Can school centralisation foster human capital accumulation? A quasi-experiment from early XX century Italy," Department of Economics University of Siena 802, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    • Handle: RePEc:usi:wpaper:802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.deps.unisi.it/quaderni/802.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandra Semrad, 2015. "Modern secondary education and economic performance: the introduction of the Gewerbeschule and Realschule in nineteenth-century Bavaria," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(4), pages 1306-1338, November.
    2. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    3. Yongji Wang & Hongwei Cai & Chanjuan Li & Zhiwei Jiang & Ling Wang & Jiugang Song & Jielai Xia, 2013. "Optimal Caliper Width for Propensity Score Matching of Three Treatment Groups: A Monte Carlo Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-7, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carlo Ciccarelli & Matteo Gomellini & Paolo Sestito, 2019. "Demography and Productivity in the Italian Manufacturing Industry: Yesterday and Today," CEIS Research Paper 457, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 16 May 2019.
    2. Gomes, Pedro & Machado, Matilde P., 2020. "Literacy And Primary School Expansion In Portugal: 1940-62," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 111-145, March.
    3. Montalbo, Adrien, 2021. "Schools without a law: Primary education in France from the Revolution to the Guizot Law," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Paolo Di Martino & Emanuele Felice & Michelangelo Vasta, 2017. "The curious case of the coexistence of two “access-orders”: Explaining the Italian regional divide," Department of Economics University of Siena 758, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    5. Paola Azar & Sergio Espuelas, 2021. "Democracy and primary education spending in Spain, 1902-22," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/409, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Gabriele Cappelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "A “Silent Revolution”: school reforms and Italy’s educational gender gap in the Liberal Age (1861–1921)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 15(1), pages 203-229, January.
    7. Gabriele Cappelli & Gloria Quiroga Valle, 2021. "Female teachers and the rise of primary education in Italy and Spain, 1861–1921: evidence from a new dataset," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 754-783, August.
    8. Belmonte, Alessandro, 2020. "State Capacity, Schooling, and Fascist Education: Evidence from the Reclamation of the Pontine Marshes," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 528, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    9. Giovanni Federico & Alessandro Nuvolari & Leonardo Ridolfi & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "The race between the snail and the tortoise: skill premium and early industrialization in Italy (1861–1913)," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    10. Barbara Pistoresi & Francesco Salsano, 2020. "Italian Spending on Education: a Long-Term Perspective," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(5), pages 1-1.
    11. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Alicia Gómez-Tello & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat, 2021. "Structural change and the income of nations," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/414, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    12. Nicola Pontarollo & Roberto Ricciuti, 2020. "Railways and manufacturing productivity in Italy after unification," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 775-800, September.

    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. Gilberto Loureiro & Sónia Silva, 2015. "Post-Operating Performance of Cross-Delisted Firms From U.S. Stock Exchanges," NIPE Working Papers 17/2015, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    2. Lucia Svabova & Marek Durica & Katarina Kramarova & Katarina Valaskova & Katarina Janoskova, 2019. "Employability and Sustainability of Young Graduates in the Slovak Labour Market: Counterfactual Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Gabriele Cappelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "A “Silent Revolution”: school reforms and Italy’s educational gender gap in the Liberal Age (1861–1921)," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 15(1), pages 203-229, January.
    4. Szabolcs Szekér & Ágnes Vathy-Fogarassy, 2020. "Weighted nearest neighbours-based control group selection method for observational studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Moritz Sefried & Jan Riepe, 2023. "The benefits of banks’ IT investments in times of trouble: evidence from loan loss accruals during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 149-171, January.
    6. Seow Eng Ong & Davin Wang & Calvin Chua, 2023. "Disruptive Innovation and Real Estate Agency: The Disruptee Strikes Back," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 287-317, August.
    7. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez, 2013. "Efectos de los ingresos no reportados en el nivel y tendencia de la pobreza laboral en México," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 23-54, November.
    8. Andrea Pufahl & Christoph R. Weiss, 2009. "Evaluating the effects of farm programmes: results from propensity score matching," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 36(1), pages 79-101, March.
    9. Paolo Naticchioni & Silvia Loriga, 2011. "Short and Long Term Evaluations of Public Employment Services in Italy," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 57(3), pages 201-229.
    10. Jean-Louis Combes & Alexandru Minea & Pegdéwendé Nestor Sawadogo, 2019. "Assessing the effects of combating illicit financial flows on domestic tax revenue mobilization in developing countries," CERDI Working papers halshs-02019073, HAL.
    11. Morgane Innocent & Agnès François-Lecompte & Nolwenn Roudaut, 2020. "Comparison of human versus technological support to reduce domestic electricity consumption in France," Post-Print hal-02450849, HAL.
    12. Jörg Prokop & Dandan Wang, 2022. "Is there a gender gap in equity-based crowdfunding?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1219-1244, October.
    13. Dettmann, E. & Becker, C. & Schmeißer, C., 2011. "Distance functions for matching in small samples," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 1942-1960, May.
    14. Febi Jensen & Hans Lööf & Andreas Stephan, 2020. "New ventures in Cleantech: Opportunities, capabilities and innovation outcomes," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 902-917, March.
    15. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    16. Bemile, Esther & Anders, Sven M., 2014. "Linking Diet-Health Behaviour and Obesity using Propensity Score Matching," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182832, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Nikolova, Milena & Roman, Monica & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2017. "Left behind but doing good? Civic engagement in two post-socialist countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 658-684.
    18. Balima, Wenéyam Hippolyte & Combes, Jean-Louis & Minea, Alexandru, 2017. "Sovereign debt risk in emerging market economies: Does inflation targeting adoption make any difference?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 360-377.
    19. Brunie, Aurélie & Fumagalli, Laura & Martin, Thomas & Field, Samuel & Rutherford, Diana, 2014. "Can village savings and loan groups be a potential tool in the malnutrition fight? Mixed method findings from Mozambique," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P2), pages 113-120.
    20. Federico Biagi & Daniele Bondonio & Alberto Martini, 2015. "Counterfactual Impact Evaluation of Enterprise Support Programmes. Evidence from a Decade of Subsidies to Italian Firm," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1619, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital; school management; public policy; decentralisation; centralisation; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    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:usi:wpaper:802. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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: Fabrizio Becatti (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desieit.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.