This dissertation investigates the long-run economic and political consequences of policy interventions. I explore two major policies undertaken by the Italian Fascist Regime during the first half of the twentieth century. In the first chapter, I analyze the differential effect of the Battle for Grain, implemented to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat production, on the development path across areas of Italy. Employing time variation, along with cross-sectional variation in the suitability of land for the implementation of the advanced wheat production technologies, I find that the policy and the associated rise in agricultural productivity had unintended positive effects on industrialization and economic prosperity which persisted until the contemporary period. Furthermore, I find that the positive effect of the Battle for Grain on human capital accumulation was instrumental in this process, suggesting that the complementarity between human capital and agricultural technology may be a critical ingredient in a beneficial effect of a rise in agricultural productivity on the development of non-agricultural sectors. In the second chapter, I investigate whether policy interventions undertaken by autocratic regimes to boost popular support may trigger loyalty for the regime that persists even after the country has transitioned into democratic rule. I explore the case of Mussolini's New Towns in Fascist Italy, a major infrastructure investment that was a significant component of the fascist propaganda. Employing municipality-level data before and after the intervention, I document that municipalities near the Fascist New Towns exhibited an increase in the electoral support for the Fascist Party, which translated into larger support for the Neo-Fascist Party after the transition to democracy and until today. Using contemporary survey data, I find that respondents near the Fascist New Towns built 70 years before display political attitudes in support of the fascist ideology. Findings are robust to controlling for the geographic conditions that determined the location of the New Towns, migration patterns, and socioeconomic differences. The results suggest that autocrats' policies may persistently affect political attitudes and the functioning of future institutional regimes.
Carillo, Mario Francesco,
"Essays in Comparative Development and Political Economy"
(2018).
Economics Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.26300/b6r8-p951
