Landownership Concentration and Human Capital Accumulation in Post-Unification Italy (1871–1921)

This paper contributes to the debate on institutions and economic development by assessing the relationship between landownership concentration and education. Using historical data both at a district- and province-level in Post-Unification Italy (1871-1921), I find evidence of a negative effect of land inequality on literacy rates. This result is confirmed when a large set of control variables is included in the analysis. IV estimates using malaria pervasiveness as a source of exogenous variation rule out concerns regarding potential endogeneity. Further evidence is provided once I exploit the panel dimension of the dataset. In addition, by analyzing the impact on intermediate outputs, such as enrolment rates in primary school, child-teacher ratio, school density, child labour, and municipality expenditures, this paper provides insights into the mechanism underpinning this relationship. Land inequality may have adversely affected literacy rates not only by influencing schooling supply through the political process but also through the private demand for education