In this paper we examine the dynamics of technical change in the Italian locomotive industry in the period 1850-1913. From an historical point of view, the case of the Italian locomotive industry presents a major point of interest: it was one of the few relatively sophisticated “high-tech”...

This paper investigates the main patterns of industrial specialisation in Italian provinces over half a century following the Unification of the country. To this end, we propose a multivariate graphical technique named <italic>dynamic specialisation biplot</italic>. In 1871, specialisation vocations towards the...

This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel data set of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913 and use it to estimate the demand for tobacco products. We find support for the Becker and Murphy (J Polit...

This paper presents the first ever statistical reconstruction of annual tobacco consumption in Italy from 1871 to 2010. The time series of total tobacco is disaggregated into its four major components (cigars, cigarettes, cut tobacco, and snuff), both in physical and monetary term. Our task was...

This paper examines the comovements of construction in Italy's regions from 1861 to 1913. The dynamic correlations of the series' deviation cycles decline in the case of buildings, remain very low in that of railways, and tend to decline in that of other infrastructure; the total-construction...

Ship-building in post-Unification Italy is here documented by new national and re-gional time series. Where the extant national series point to secular decline, the new estimates reveal a major increase in output tied primarily to the growth of repair work on the one hand and of naval...

This paper studies the demand for tobacco products in post-unification Italy. We construct a very detailed panel dataset of yearly consumption in the 69 Italian provinces from 1871 to 1913, and use it to estimate the Becker and Murphy (1988) rational addiction model. We find support for the...

This paper presents annual estimates of total and per-capita GDP at 1910 prices for the regions of Imperial Austria from the origin of the Dual Monarchy (1867) to the eve of WWI (1913). The time paths of regional GDP are estimated from the yield of the tax on the transfer of real and financial...