A tale of two Fascisms: Labour productivity growth and competition policy in Italy, 1911–1951

Abstract

The purpose of the Economic History Working Papers (Quaderni di Storia economica) is to promote the circulation of preliminary versions of working papers on growth, finance, money, institutions prepared within the Bank of Italy or presented at Bank seminars by external speakers with the aim of stimulating comments and suggestions. The present series substitutes the Historical Research papers -Quaderni dell'Ufficio Ricerche Storiche. The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not involve the responsibility of the Bank.

Agricultural Policy and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Mussolini's Battle for Grain

“…It is possible that the location of chemicals related plants was determined by the emphasis on the development of new fertilizers induced by the BG. In addition, during Mussolini's dictatorship, the government supported industries related to chemicals (Giordano and Giugliano, 2015), as well as industries related to war. Columns from 7 to 9 investigate these aspects.…”

Long‐run Factor Accumulation and Productivity Trends in Italy

“…In detail, the period between Italy's unification in 1861 and the outbreak of World War I (WWI) is generally defined as the ‘liberal era’, which, however, in turn, includes two sub‐periods, that is, the immediate post‐unification years (1861–1896) and the so‐called ‘Giolitti era’, named after its liberal Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti. After WWI, the ventennio fascista (Fascist 20 years) can be broken down, as in Giordano and Giugliano (2015), into a phase of broad economic liberalization and trade openness (1919–1928) and the autarkic phase, which also included the Great Depression and recovery years prior to WWII, namely the 1929–1938 period. A similar breakdown has also been employed for the quantitative analysis of growth in other European countries during the interwar period (Feinstein et al ., 2008).…”

“…industry and private services), confirming and complementing more recent reappraisals of Italy's Great Depression based on industrial production data (e.g. Giordano et al ., 2014; Giordano and Giugliano, 2015). Productivity growth in agriculture was instead supported by active policies by Benito Mussolini's regime, such as land reclamations and significant irrigation works (Toniolo, 1980).…”

“…13 Interestingly, manufacturing labour productivity growth is found to have decelerated in the Giolitti era relative to the 1861–1896 years, thereby entirely explaining the aforementioned industrial slowdown between the two periods, and confirming our nuanced view on the pre‐WWI years. Concerning the 1929–1938 period, Giordano and Giugliano (2015) show that it was the ‘old’ manufacturing branches (namely food, tobacco, cotton, wool and other textiles, clothing and leather, timber and furniture and non‐metallic minerals) that posted negative labour productivity growth rates, as opposed to the new staples, which recorded an expansion.…”

“…Only in the 1930s, the dynamic reallocation effect turned out to be quantitatively important, even more so than the pure productivity growth effect; interestingly, these years coincided with the Fascist autarchy period, when state aid to key strategic sectors, which were not necessarily the most productive, abounded (e.g. Toniolo, 1980; Giordano et al ., 2014; Giordano and Giugliano, 2015). 16…”