Looking at the Origins of the North- South Divide. The Regional Allocation of the National Budget Just after Italian Unification
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Abstract
The paper examines the regional impact of expenditure and tax policies in the immediate aftermath of the creation of Italy. It estimates the fiscal residuum for all the regions for the year 1876. The results do not provide evidence of the clear-cut discrimination of the South in favor of the Center North that was largely widely debated and feared at the time. Piedmont and Lombardy were treated the same as Campania and Sicily. Tuscany suffered. Liguria was the main beneficiary. The other Southern regions were treated much less fairly, possibly because of their low political clout.
Keywords
- regional disparities
- fiscal residuum
- budget policies
