Institutional shocks and social capital: evidence from the French domination in Italy

ABSTRACT

This article proposes an explanation of Italy’s economic and social divide by taking account of the institutional legacy left by French political control during the period 1796–1814. Using a new data set regarding the duration of French domination and ‘bridging’ social capital in Italy in the nineteenth century, we find that a prolonged French presence is associated with a higher level of social capital as from 1814. We suggest that the transmission channel lay in the improvements, both institutional and cultural, achieved in the areas where the French presence was more prolonged.

RIASSUNTO

Questo lavoro propone una spiegazione del divario economico e sociale dell’Italia che tiene conto dell’eredità istituzionale lasciata dal controllo politico francese durante il periodo 1796-1814. Utilizzando un nuovo dataset sulla durata della dominazione francese e del capitale sociale di tipo “bridging” in Italia nel XIX secolo, troviamo che la durata della presenza francese è positivamente correlata con un livello più elevato di capitale sociale a partire già dal 1814. La nostra ipotesi assume che il canale di trasmissione sia da rintracciare nei miglioramenti, istituzionali e culturali, realizzati nelle aree dove la presenza francese fu più prolungata.

KEYWORDS:

• social capital
• self-organized communities
• French domination
• Enlightenment

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• capitale sociale
• comunità auto-organizzate
• dominazione francese
• Illuminismo

Notes

1. We thank the editor John Davis and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. We are also indebted to Anna Maria Rao, Marina Formica, and Jacob Weisdorf. The article benefited from the comments of participants at the 8^th EH/Tune conference held in Siena in November 2018.

2. The importance of social capital in determining the North–South divide has been advanced by Felice (2013) and Cappelli (2017) with different nuances.

3. For a brief overview on the debate on the concept of the so-called Jacobinism of the Republican Revolutions in Italy see Tognarini (1977), Rao (1992), (see in particular 61–185); Perfetti (1990). Precise and timely clarifications were offered by: Guerci (1999a, 129–145) which recommends using the term Jacobinism only for those: ‘tra il 1796 e il 1799 militò nella sinistra dello schieramento repubblicano facendosi portatore di istanze radicali sul piano politico e sul piano sociale’ (139). As regard the concept of ‘passive revolution’, see among others: Visceglia (1972, 3–47), Burstin (1998, 75–95), Guerci (1999b). Bologna, in particular the Chapter I. Regarding this problem see Venturi (1954, 212–213).

4. The fedecommesso was a legal provision through which the testator establishes a person as heir in order to manage his wealth. When the testator dies, the wealth is transferred to a third party, nominated by the testator. This mechanism was used to exclude from inheritance certain individuals, such as women, and to limit the sharing of wealth among family members.

5. In fact, these associations had restricted membership and were organized in a hierarchical form to the extent that the aid and help that each member drew was only on the condition of subjection and severe discipline.

6. Around 1875, the mutual aid societies of the first group numbered 1700 out of the 1981 total (Ministero d’agricoltura, industria e commercio 1878).

7. The bin scatterplot puts in correlation two variables that are equally grouped in bins of the same dimensions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michele Postigliola

Michele Postigliola is Assistant Professor of Economic History at Sapienza University of Rome. He is author of several articles and books chapters published in national and international journals. His research interests focus on Macro History in particular the sustainability of the Italian Public Debt from 1861 to today, Culture and Institutions in Italy in the pre and post unification period.

Mauro Rota

Mauro Rota is Associate Professor of Economic History at Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests include real wages in Italy, the little divergence debate and the economic history of Italy after 1945. He also studied the connections between political regime and military spending.