Railways and manufacturing productivity in Italy after unification
利用意大利统一后铁路建设的历史案例，研究发现铁路对制造业生产率有积极影响，并在邻近省份产生溢出效应，初始铁路禀赋高的地区受益更多。
Abstract This paper contributes to the debate on the effects of transport infrastructure endowment on productivity by adding a historical perspective. This allows us to address the issue in a proving ground where the effects of the existing stock of infrastructure are negligible. At the time of unification, the Kingdom of Italy initiated a large infrastructure project to build railways. We find that railways had a positive effect on manufacturing productivity over the period 1871–1911. Railways also had strong spillover effects in neighboring provinces so that provinces that started with a higher endowment of railways benefited more than those who were newly endowed.