An Analysis of Interregional Migration in Italy

At the time of unification in 1861, Italy was a relatively backward country compared to the more advanced western European nations. Agriculture was the main productive sector and 60 per cent of the labour force was still toiling on the land.
From then on the Italian economy underwent deep changes, both in its productive capacity and structure. Italy caught up with the level of output per head of the most advanced economies and today shares a similar economic structure and a low rate of growth (Malanima & Zamagni, 2010).

By the end of the nineteenth century, the poorest regions in Italy were located in the South. At that time politicians and intellectuals started to discuss the causes of the backwardness of the South (also known as Mezzogiorno), starting the so-called debate on the "Questione Meridionale" ("Southern Question") as the backward South was then becoming a central feature of the Italian economy and society (Malanima & Zamagni, 2010). This debate remains vivid nowadays.

Many explanations for the origins of regional disparities, especially the North-South divide, and their persistence throughout the twentieth century have been proposed. These can be broadly summarized by two contrasting views.

The first view, prevailing up to the 1990s, emphasises the "natural poverty" of the South which arose from a dry climate, shortness of natural resources, low levels of human and social capital, and a feudal heritage in the land system. The North, by contrast, in particular the North-West, was a natural candidate for industrialization because of a more favourable geographical position and natural endowments, more advanced human and social capital, better transport infrastructure, improved credit markets, and the existence of crucial manufactures (Felice, 2011).

The alternative view considers the South to be the wealthiest and more advanced part of the Italian peninsula but exploited by the North. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (the actual South without Sardinia) had larger monetary resources in 1860, which were appropriated by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and redirected by the new Italian state in favour of northern infrastructures, to promote the process of northern industrialisation, and to pay the debts of the House of Savoy, the royal family leading the newly formed Kingdom of Italy (Felice, 2011; Aprile, 2011). At this time, several Southern regions displayed important signs of modernity and dynamism, showing a potential for industrialization similar to the North-West (Felice, 2011). However, for many years after the unification, cutting-edge Southern industries were dismantled or allowed to perish, due either to unfair competition from the North, or as a consequence of explicit decisions made by the newly formed Italian State (Aprile, 2011; De Crescenzo, 2002).

New studies have been progressively emerging for the past few decades, resulting in a deeper knowledge of the economy after 1861, especially with the publication of new statistical series and analysis of the organization of economic activity, technology, economic policy, North-South disparities and changes in income distribution. This progress has been quite remarkable (Malanima & Zamagni, 2010). [...]