Abstract

The paper surveys the macro-economic history of Italy in the interwar decades (including the Great War and the post-war crisis), forty years after Gianni Toniolo’s comprehensive attempt, in the light of the recent literature on quantitative estimates of national accounts, industrial production, economic well-being, and economic inequality. The newly interpreted facts, as well as the limitations of these reconstructions, are related to the classic debates on the fascist economy, and more recent developments in contemporary history on the period. In this sense, the inclusion of indicators on the distribution of income between factors of production, different percentiles, and social groups, allows us to appreciate more continuity than that suggested by both changes in economic policy and the trend of economic growth and industrial production.