2 - Slow Economic Unification, 1861–1896

Summary

The Risorgimento focused on independence from foreign powers and the state’s unification. This perspective is of interest today in a global interdependent context. Economic revival was largely frustrated during three decades after unification. GDP growth fell short of catching up with the more advanced countries. Relative if not absolute decline continued but its causes were different from those prevailing before the mid-nineteenth century. Growth acceleration required institution building, monetary unification, the creation of a single market, physical infrastructures, all of which could not be created overnight. The chapter emphasizes a) widespread uncertainty, in the first decade after unification when the survival of the new kingdom was in doubt, b) the long process of creating trust in the state, particularly in the southern regions.