Historical Origins and Consequences of the North-South Divide in Italy

It is of interest trying to understand the causes and origins of disparities between regions. One of the most famous and interesting cases is that of the Italian divergence between north and south, the ‘Questione Meridionale’, which has been extremely persistent over the long run. The project aims at contributing to the existing literature about the causes of this divergence especially the agricultural origins of the divide. It looks at different aspects one of which is the distribution of land and its impact on various economic outcomes.