Suchergebnisse

This paper contributes to the debate on institutions and economic development by assessing the relationship between landownership concentration and education in Post-Unification Italy (1871-1921). Using historical data both at a district- and provincelevel, I nd evidence of a negative eect of land inequality on literacy rates. This result is conrmed when a large set of control variables is included in the analysis. IV estimates using the presence of malaria as a source of exogenous variation rule out further concerns regarding the presence of potential endogeneity. Further evidence is provided once I explore the panel dimension of the dataset. In addition, by analysing the impact on intermediate outputs such as enrolment rates in primary school, child-teacher ratio, school density, child labor and municipality expenditures, this paper provides insights on the mechanism behind this relationship. Land inequality may have adversely aected literacy rates not only by influencing the supply of schooling through the political process, but also through the private demand for education.

Pervasive new technologies associated with information and communication technologies and software are dominated by a restricted oligopoly of US-based corporations. The challengers are no longer European firms, but rather Japanese or Chinese companies. The actions taken by the EU to fill this technology gap, including the Framework Programmes for research and technological development, are beneficial but still insufficient in terms of the resources committed. This article argues that the EU urgently needs to add another economic policy instrument to defy these incumbent firms, namely to create a few publicly supported large corporations in the areas of greater scientific and technological opportunities. This will be complementary to the already ongoing mission-oriented innovation policies. While there are the political and economic difficulties of implementing such a strategy, one recalls the pioneering venture of Airbus, established more than 50 years ago that has successfully managed to challenge the dominant US-based passenger aircraft producers despite several economic and political controversies. Could similar attempts be replicated for green technologies, healthcare services and artificial intelligence?