Abstract

This Special Issue of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti celebrates the 150th anniversary of Italy's political unity. Since 1861, Italy has evolved from a poor, backward and agrarian economy to a rich and industrial economy; has gone though bouts of economic insularity and integration; has swung from massive emigration to large immigration; has experienced an inflation rate much higher than that of the reference industrial countries; has accumulated a debilitating public debt; and has blessed the demise of the lira to embrace a new currency, the euro, which now is under threat of imploding. Amidst all these changes, two features have endured: political unity and a deep economic divide between the North and the South.