2025/02 | LEM Working Paper Series | ||||||||||||||||
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Chasing the perfida Albione: Anglo-Italian productivity gap in the late thirties |
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Tancredi Salamone |
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Keywords | |||||||||||||||||
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Productivity, Italy, UK, Manufacturing, Fascism.
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JEL Classifications | |||||||||||||||||
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N14, N64, O14, O47
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Abstract | |||||||||||||||||
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In this paper, I introduce new estimates of Anglo-Italian labour
productivity levels in manufacturing during the late 1930s. The
relatively high level of detail of the industrial censuses of the two
countries, allows to retrieve also input data, enabling the use of the
more sophisticated double deflation method. This approach treats
outputs and inputs separately, thereby considering the input-output
structure of the compared countries. These estimates, in turn, allow
me to extend the analysis to other countries for which similar
comparisons with the UK have already been made. I also provide
preliminary estimates of labor productivity on a per-hour basis. The
results point to a significant productivity gap at the aggregate
level, with intersectoral heterogeneity being the prevailing
pattern. Notably, Italian performance stands out favorably in textiles
and, to a lesser extent, in iron and steel production and the chemical
sector. Ultimately, these estimates, while affirming the substantial
gap highlighted in other studies, actually propose an upward revision
of the Italian productivity level.
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