Convergence among Italian Regions, 1861-2011

Giovanni Iuzzolino, Guido Pellegrini and Gianfranco Viesti
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Giovanni Iuzzolino: Banca d’Italia, Naples Branch
Gianfranco Viesti: University of Bari

No 22, Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

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.

Keywords: Italy; regional disparities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N63 N93 R11 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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