Mapping Economic Development: The Legacy of 19th Century Entrepreneurs and Politicians in Shaping the Italian Economic Landscape

The thesis titled "Mapping Economic Development: The Legacy of 19th Century Entrepreneurs and Politicians in Shaping the Italian Economic Landscape" explores the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth in Italy during the Liberal Age (1871–1911). By focusing on provincial-level data, the study examines how the presence of entrepreneurs impacted local economic development during a period of significant industrial and societal transformation. The thesis makes two key contributions. First, it addresses a gap in empirical literature by analyzing entrepreneurship’s role in economic growth at a provincial level, which has been relatively understudied in the historical context. Second, it introduces an innovative approach by using the number of entrepreneurs as proxies for entrepreneurial culture, providing new insights into how entrepreneurship contributed to economic development. Using both cross-sectional and panel data regression models, the research analyzes the effect of entrepreneurial rates on real wages across Italian provinces. The findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between the entrepreneurial rate and economic performance, suggesting that provinces with higher concentrations of entrepreneurs experienced stronger economic growth. The analysis also controls for variables such as literacy rates, industrial value-added, agricultural labor force share, patents, and urbanization rates. This study contributes to the broader understanding of how entrepreneurship shaped Italy’s economic landscape during the Liberal Age and offers insights into the historical development of regional economic disparities, particularly the North-South divide.