A Spatial Analysis of Growth and Convergence In Italian Provinces: the Role of Road Infrastructure

The role of road infrastructure in reducing economic disparities is debated both in Europe and in the US. During the 60’s, huge investments in highways significantly reduced the time run between North and South Italy. A spatial analysis of convergence is performed. Results show that the effect of road infrastructure investment was significant but accompanied by a strong polarization between North and South (also emerging from nonparametric analysis) that it failed to prevent, possibly because investment in the South was not large enough to close the accessibility gap with the Centre- North, a gap that appears to persist during the subsequent years