Cliometrics

Regional convergence in Italy, 1891–2001: testing human and social capital

by Emanuele Felice

forthcoming in Cliometrica (already available on-line)

this in a highly incomplete draft. Please see the published copy (from the link) for the final and complete version, as well as for quotation

La copia in pdf è solo un abbozzo, incompleto. Per la versione definitiva e completa (e per eventuali citazioni) si veda l'articolo pubblicato, dal link

The article aims to present and discuss estimates of levels of human and social capital in Italy’s regions over the... more The article aims to present and discuss estimates of levels of human and social capital in Italy’s regions over the long term, i.e., roughly from the second half of the nineteenth century up to the present day. The results are linked to newly available evidence for regional value added in order to begin to form an explanatory hypothesis of long-term regional inequality in Italy: convergence in value added per capita is tested in light of the neoclassical exogenous growth approach, which incorporates human capital and social capital as conditioning variables into a long-term production function. In contrast with conventional wisdom (e.g. Putnam 1993), we find that social capital was not a significant predictor of economic growth in post-Unification Italy: It grew in importance only in the last decades. Conversely, human capital was more important in the first half of the twentieth century. Results suggest that there was not one single conditioning variable over the long run, thus supporting the view that, in different periods, conditioning variables can be determined by technological regimes.

(Johannes Preiser-Kapeller - Ekaterini Mitsiou) Hierarchies and fractals: Ecclesiastical revenues as indicator for the distribution of relative demographic potential within the cities and regions of the Late Byzantine Empire in the early 14th century

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

published in: Byzantina Symmeikta 20 (2010) p. 245-308.

Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population... more Until now the source material has made it impossible to reconstruct the distribution of economic power and population within the Late Byzantine Empire on a larger scale. Our new analysis of a list of contributions from 33 bishoprics to the Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1324 connects these figures with the economic performance of the respective town and its hinterland; we also demonstrate that the distribution of contributions shows characteristics which are typical for settlement hierarchies and therefore can be used to create the first model for the distribution of demographic and
economic potential in the Byzantine Empire at this time.

Argentina-Canada from 1870 : Explaining the dinamics of divergence

by German H. Gonzalez