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Regional growth with spatial dependence: A case study on early Italian industrialization
Author(s) -
Ciccarelli Carlo,
Fachin Stefano
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/pirs.12217
Subject(s) - industrialisation , economic geography , productivity , human capital , economies of agglomeration , spillover effect , spatial econometrics , economics , conditional convergence , convergence (economics) , manufacturing , empirical evidence , politics , value (mathematics) , social capital , economy , geography , econometrics , economic growth , macroeconomics , business , political science , market economy , sociology , social science , philosophy , epistemology , marketing , machine learning , computer science , law
This paper estimates a conditional β ‐convergence model of labour productivity growth in Italy's manufacturing industry during 1871–1911, accounting for spatial dependence. The empirical evidence is based on a recent set of data at provincial (NUTS 3) level on manufacturing value added at 1911 prices, and a new set of data on human and social capital, political participation, and infrastructures. By focusing on a country and a time when the agglomeration forces and spillover effects advocated by the new economic geography were only starting to operate, we can investigate a particularly interesting case study. Our results suggest that human capital, a cooperative culture, and initial productivity in neighbouring provinces can explain much of the geographical variability of productivity growth in manufacturing in nineteenth‐century Italy.