Three essays in italian economic history

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.