L’economia del Mezzogiorno postunitario. Ancora su dualismo e sviluppo

The economy of Southern Italy after unification. Furhter reflections on dualism and development
This essay focuses on some recent econometric studies on Southern Italy after 1861, and compares them with other researches more attentive to qualitative elements. The article argues that at the time of unification there were remarkable differences between Northern and Southern Italy about the cultural and environmental pre-conditions of the development. On the contrary, economic differences were much less important . In particular, under the impulse of free-trade policies, the different parts of the country reached international markets in a similar way in the last decades of the XIX Century.