Demography and Productivity in the Italian Manufacturing Industry: Yesterday and Today

Ciccarelli CarloGomellini MatteoSestito Paolo
CEIS Research Paper
Population ageing and lack of productivity growth characterize most western countries. We focus on Italy and investigate whether the availability of a young population represents a determinant of manufacturing productivity growth. We follow a historical comparative analysis and provide evidence of the strength of this relation in the past (1861-1911) and today (1961-2011). To account for the sizeable regional heterogeneity characterizing historically the country we use data disaggregated at the provincial level. Our analysis suggests that the availability of a young population represents indeed one of the determinant of manufacturing productivity growth. The strength of the relation was higher in the past than today, but ageing is still nevertheless a factor that cannot be neglected from a policy perspective.
 

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Number: 457
Keywords: manufacturing, productivity, population ageing, Italy.
JEL codes: O14,J11,N33,N93
Volume: 17
Issue: 4
Date: Thursday, May 16, 2019
Revision Date: Thursday, May 16, 2019