Regional divide, ‘Southern Question’ and economic development in Italy 1950-1992: The role of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno

The history of territorial divides is an essential element in understanding the dynamics of Italian economic development between the golden age and the globalisation of the 2000s; in line with the most up-to-date international literature, even the southern question can therefore be included in a long-term analysis capable of highlighting the connections and inferences between national dynamics and the cycles of the global economy. Moving from this perspective, the events of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and its contribution to public policies to combat regional inequalities regional inequalities constitute an essential element for reading the transition from ‘double convergence’ (between the South and the Centre-North and between Italy and Europe), characteristic of the golden age, to the ‘double divergence’ between the South and the rest of the country and between Italy and the centre of the global economic system) of more recent years. The volume reconstructs these dynamics through the use of new quantitative sources on the interventions of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and AgenSud between 1950 and 1993, capable of providing a more accurate territorial and sectorial breakdown of lending.