Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold. First of all, we intend to examine the empirical problems associated with the standardisation of the industrial census conducted in Italy between 1911 and 1991. The main problems concern the link among the different industrial classification, the reconstruction of some geographical units and, finally, the estimate of the employment data for the 1911 census. Secondly, we attempt to provide a first interpretation of this evidence, focussing manly on the processes of structural change and production specialization experienced by the Italian manufacturing industry during the last century.