Railways and manufacturing productivity in Italy after unification |
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Authors: | Nicola Pontarollo Roberto Ricciuti |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Economics and Management, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy;2. Department of Economics, University of Verona, Verona, Italy |
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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. |
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Keywords: | Italy manufacturing productivity railways roads |
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