Railways and manufacturing productivity in Italy after unification. (4th February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pontarollo, Nicola; Ricciuti, Roberto
• Is Part Of: Journal of regional science. Volume 60:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 775
• Page End: 800
• Publication Date: 2020-02-04
• Subjects: Italy -- manufacturing productivity -- railways -- roads; Economics -- Research -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Periodicals; 330.072
• DOI: 10.1111/jors.12484
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-4146

Abstract

Abstract: This paper contributes to the debate on the effects of transport infrastructure endowment on productivity by adding a historical perspective. This allows us to address the issue in a proving ground where the effects of the existing stock of infrastructure are negligible. At the time of unification, the Kingdom of Italy initiated a large infrastructure project to build railways. We find that railways had a positive effect on manufacturing productivity over the period 1871–1911. Railways also had strong spillover effects in neighboring provinces so that provinces that started with a higher endowment of railways benefited more than those who were newly endowed.