The legacy of history or the outcome of reforms? Primary education and literacy in Liberal Italy (1871-1911)

Monica Bozzano and Gabriele Cappelli

Department of Economics University of Siena from Department of Economics, University of Siena

Abstract: This paper shows how historical institutions, inherited from pre-unification regional states, cast a long shadow on the evolution of literacy across the provinces of Liberal Italy (1871-1911). Although increasing local inputs into public primary schooling were associated with higher literacy, pre-unification schooling is found to be a crucial predictor of literacy in the period under study. New provincial estimates of school efficiency based on Data Envelopment Analysis suggest that pre-unification education and parental literacy were also important determinants of the success in converting schooling into literacy

Keywords: schooling; effectiveness; efficiency; human capital; education production function; economic history; institutions; reforms; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E02 H75 I25 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro and nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usi:wpaper:801

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