Retrospective on Sylvia (Ciesluk) Kinnicutt, “The Southern Question” from Contradictions and Challenges in 21st Century Italy Perspectives on Business and Economics, Volume 21, 2003 Sylvia (Ciesluk) Kinnicutt ‘03 is now Senior Project Leader in Business Insights. . Has Southern Italy improved economically since the article’s publication? Since the article’s publication, Northern Italy and Southern Italy both have improved substantially in economic terms. While the southern half of Italy was significantly poorer in 2003 than the north , the region has since managed to improve its infrastructure and reputation—mainly through tourism. Comparing the two, “Northern Italy, at the very top, includes the stunning Dolomites and Italian Alps, so it is ideal for winter sports and gets very cold and snowy in the winter,” while “Southern Italy…is truly Mediterranean, with warm weather for much of the year, excellent beaches, and a swath of ancient buildings and sites to discover” (Biava 2023). Over the past century, both halves of the country have experienced changes in the mix of primary industries at base of their economies. Early in the 20th century, “southern provinces like Naples and Taranto exhibited high relative levels of employment in mechanical industries, while many northern provinces had virtually no industry at all” (Righi 2022). Yet by the 1970s, the southern mechanical industries fell behind the north and eventually failed. In addition, Northern Italy was better connected to domestic and foreign markets thanks to more favorable geographic proximity. These were the primary causes of the economic disparities between the two. Today, both are heavily economically dependent upon tourism, but the north remains dependent upon manufacturing industries while the south has become much more reliant on agriculture. These differences in industries results in prices in the Northern half being much more expensive than those in the southern half. However, the emergence of the coronavirus and more recently the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused economic issues for both the regions. While employment levels have managed to restore themselves to pre-pandemic rates, “The war in Ukraine and COVID-related disruptions to global supply chains have pushed up energy prices and intensified shortages of key products (De Haro 2022)”. In addition, GDP is forecasted to slow and plateau which could cause serious detriments to both the north and south economies. References Biava, I. (2023). Northern Italy vs Southern Italy: A detailed comparison. Boundless Roads. www.boundlessroads.com/northern-italy-vssouthern-italy/ De Haro, J. L. (2022). Italy: Staff concluding statement of the 2022 Article IV Mission. IMF. www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/05/19/italy -staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2022-articleiv-mission Righi, P. (2022). The origins of Italy's north-south divide. The London School of Economics and Political Science. blogs.lse.ac.uk/ economichistory/2022/09/30/the-origins-ofitalys-north-south-divide/ Retrospective by Sidney Jankanish ’23, Political Science and International Relations Martindale Retrospectives 6 June 2023
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