The ripples of the Industrial revolution: exports, economic growth and regional integration in Italy in the early 19th century

The conventional wisdom about the early stages of modern economic growth in Italy is still heavily influenced by the work of L.Cafagna (1989). He argued that exports of primary products to industrializing North Western countries were the main source of growth and that exports of silk stimulated the industrialization of the North-West (the “industrial triangle”). However, the benefits did not extend to the rest of the country. In this paper we argue that this view is not supported by the trade data. Italian exports grew slowly relative to European and world trade and exports from the North grew less than the total. This view tallies well with some recent estimates of GDP per capita, which show no increase before the Unification (1861)