The paper provides an empirical assessment of the relation between the early diffusion of railways and industrial growth in Italy's regions. On the one hand, history represents one of the main factors conditioning transport systems, and the analysis of the early evolution of railways might thus...

We estimate and internationally compare the evolution of GDP pc in central-northern and, for the first time, southern Italy in 1400-1861. To address concerns on the representativeness of daily wages, we rely on an unconventional demand approach, using a general equilibrium model and occupational...

Structural transformation is a key indicator of economic development. This paper reconstructs and examines spatial patterns of the occupational structure in pre-unification Italy, combining direct observations and urbanization rates. In 1861, the agricultural labour share was higher in Southern...