Paolo Di Martino
Biographic Data
| ID | 1049411 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Paolo Di Martino |
| GIVEN NAMES | Paolo |
| FAMILY NAME | Di Martino |
| SIGNATURE | DI MARTINO P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Birmingham |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9030-9014 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Commercial activities of early ‘central banks’, geographic expansion, and banking correspondents
Recent research has put the business activities of late 19th-mid-20th-century ‘central banks’ back at the core of the analysis. This paper contributes to the debate on the Italian case, focusing on the period between the country’s Unification in 1861 and the establishment of a proper central bank in 1936. The paper demonstrates that the country’s main banks of issue (the Banca Nazionale until 1893 and the Banca d’Italia thereafter) developed a hi…
Monetary policy at the periphery during the Classical Gold Standard
This paper analyzes monetary policy in Italy between 1894 and WWI by focusing on the main bank of issue at the time (the Banca d’Italia , BdI) and the Treasury. We show that the Treasury set multiple official rates, and the BdI determined an ”effective” rate transmitted to the market by discounting different bills to the various rates; we provide an original measure of this rate based on primary sources. The BdI changed its rate in response to th…
Central banks’ interventions in exchange rate markets during the international gold standard
This article reconstructs the history of direct interventions in exchange rate markets performed by the leading Italian banks of issue: the Banca Nazionale until 1893, then the Banca d'Italia between 1894 and 1913. The article shows that this type of operation represented a constant and relevant commitment for both institutions; interventions were made in the bills and/or the bonds market, sometimes also in conjunction with increases in the disco…
Location matters. Are science and policy arenas facing the Inner Peripheries challenges in EU
Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy
A tale of two Italies
This paper uses the ‘access orders’ paradigm developed by North, Wallis, and Weingast [(2009). Violence and social order: A conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to analyse the case of the Italian North–South economic divide. In line with their framework, we collect and discuss several social and political indicators over the long-run, at the regional level. Firstly we looked at data …
Bankruptcy Laws Around Europe (1850–2015)
Despite the relevance of bankruptcy law for a number of key issues regarding business functioning and organization, little is known about the features and evolution of these legal institutions over time and space. This paper starts to fill this gap in current knowledge by analyzing a new data set providing consistent information about key features of bankruptcy law between 1850 and 2015 in the thirty largest European economies. Regarding institut…
Reassessing the Italian “Economic Miracle”
This article revisits and reassesses the evolution of Italian capitalism during the so called “economic miracle” (1950–1973). Using original sources, it analyzes how the average small, private firm, representing the vast majority of Italian businesses at the time, struggled to fully develop, grow, and modernize. The paper identifies the main source of the problem in a set of inefficient (or poorly-enforced) laws and regulations that allowed firms…
Risk, success, and failure
This article analyses female entrepreneurship in late Victorian and Edwardian England. Traditional views on female entrepreneurship in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England point towards a decline in the number and relevance of women as business owners in comparison to the eighteenth century, and their retreat into a 'separate sphere' away from the world of trade and production. Recent studies, however, have deeply challenged this view, sugge…
Happy 150th Anniversary, Italy
Happy 150th Anniversary, Italy?Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861 Paolo Di Martino (bio) and Michelangelo Vasta (bio) The 150th anniversary of Italian unification, celebrated in 2011, took place in the middle of a dramatic economic and political crisis. During that year, the economic downturn that followed the international banking crash of 2008–2009 almost led to the collapse of Italian public finances, and in November 2011, Prime …
Wealthy by Accident
In the century and half since its 1861 unification, Italy has left the periphery of the world economy and reached a level of wealth close to that of industrialized core Western countries. Since the 1990s, however, the process of globalization has exposed the weakness of the Italian productive system, and the country’s economic performance has been one of the worst in the world. This pattern raises questions about the very nature of the Italian ec…
Wealthy by Accident? Firm Structure, Institutions, and Economic Performance in 150 (+4) Years of Italian History
In the century and half since its 1861 unification, Italy has left the periphery of the world economy and reached a level of wealth close to that of industrialized core Western countries. Since the 1990s, however, the process of globalization has exposed the weakness of the Italian productive system, and the country’s economic performance has been one of the worst in the world. This pattern raises questions about the very nature of the Italian ec…
Happy 150 th Anniversary, Italy? Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861
The 150 th anniversary of Italian Unification, celebrated in 2011, took place in the middle of a dramatic economic and political crisis; during the year, the economic downturn that followed the international banking crash of 2008-09 almost led to the collapse of Italian public finances, and in November 2011 the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after months of political instability.The 2011 events, however, were the culmination of a trend…
The Functioning of Bankruptcy Law and Practices in European Perspective (ca.1880–1913)
A growing body of research in economics and in business and economic history has shown the key role of bankruptcy and insolvency law on business organization, firms’ governance, and entrepreneurial choices. Most research, however, has focused on the formal aspects of laws, and still little is known on how various systems worked in practices. This paper fills this gap in the literature analyzing the functioning of bankruptcy procedures in four mai…
Legal institutions, social norms, and entrepreneurship in Britain (c.1890–c.1939) 1
This article analyses the functioning of debt‐discharge procedures in England and Wales in the light of the debate on entrepreneurial failure in the years between the late Victorian age and the interwar period. Using an original dataset and an empirical approach, it is argued that social norms, cultural elements, and class considerations influenced the outcome of decisions in a way that could have reduced the incentives for economic agents to eng…
Rome wasn't built in a day’
During the 1880s, a massive speculative boom occurred in the Roman real estate market. Its subsequent crash left a lasting mark on the structure of the city and triggered a nationwide banking crisis. This article analyses the causes of this boom and bust by showing how a small but cohesive lobby managed to bypass and bend to its own advantage formal regulation by exploiting institutional conflicts and political divisions at both national and loca…
Microcredit in Palestine (1995–2008)
This article analyses the development and functioning of the microcredit industry in Palestine in the period between its establishment as a partially autonomous political entity (1994) and the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2008). The article shows how, despite the increase in potential demand for microcredit due to the deterioration of the economic environment, the growth of the sector has been below expectation. One of the most important c…
Unsettled account
Convergence and divergence of national financial systems
Bankruptcy Law and Practice in Historical Perspective
This time is different
Companies' insolvency and 'the nature of the firm' in Italy, 1920s-70s1
This article analyses the functioning of Italian insolvency laws and practices, in particular their role in the selection and relaunch of viable firms. The article investigates the period between the 1920s and the 1970s, and focuses on joint-stock companies. Using comparative data on the number of cases, we show that in Italy firms mainly used the procedure calledfallimento(bankruptcy), consisting of the collection and subsequent liquidation of a…
Dealing with failure
Cet article se penche sur le fonctionnement, dans les années 1890-1930, des deux procédures de faillite propres à l'Angleterre et au Pays de Galles. À partir de données statistiques nouvelles ou améliorées, il s'intéresse à l'arbitrage entre l'utilisation des solutions judiciaires officielles de règlement des faillites et le recours à des arrangements à l'amiable entre créanciers et débiteurs. Il montre ainsi que, pendant la période étudiée, les …
Approaching Disaster
Recent developments in economic theory have emphasised the relevance of the legal system in explaining why growth rates differ between national economies. Specifically, laws and enforcement instrum
Recent Dynamics of the Mediterranean Vegetation and Landscape
Risk, success, and failure
This article analyses female entrepreneurship in late Victorian and Edwardian England. Traditional views on female entrepreneurship in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England point towards a decline in the number and relevance of women as business owners in comparison to the eighteenth century, and their retreat into a 'separate sphere' away from the world of trade and production. Recent studies, however, have deeply challenged this view, sugge…
Happy 150 th Anniversary, Italy? Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861
The 150 th anniversary of Italian Unification, celebrated in 2011, took place in the middle of a dramatic economic and political crisis; during the year, the economic downturn that followed the international banking crash of 2008-09 almost led to the collapse of Italian public finances, and in November 2011 the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after months of political instability.The 2011 events, however, were the culmination of a trend…
Approaching Disaster
Recent developments in economic theory have emphasised the relevance of the legal system in explaining why growth rates differ between national economies. Specifically, laws and enforcement instrum
Companies' insolvency and 'the nature of the firm' in Italy, 1920s-70s1
This article analyses the functioning of Italian insolvency laws and practices, in particular their role in the selection and relaunch of viable firms. The article investigates the period between the 1920s and the 1970s, and focuses on joint-stock companies. Using comparative data on the number of cases, we show that in Italy firms mainly used the procedure calledfallimento(bankruptcy), consisting of the collection and subsequent liquidation of a…
Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy
Reassessing the Italian “Economic Miracle”
This article revisits and reassesses the evolution of Italian capitalism during the so called “economic miracle” (1950–1973). Using original sources, it analyzes how the average small, private firm, representing the vast majority of Italian businesses at the time, struggled to fully develop, grow, and modernize. The paper identifies the main source of the problem in a set of inefficient (or poorly-enforced) laws and regulations that allowed firms…
Monetary policy at the periphery during the Classical Gold Standard
This paper analyzes monetary policy in Italy between 1894 and WWI by focusing on the main bank of issue at the time (the Banca d’Italia , BdI) and the Treasury. We show that the Treasury set multiple official rates, and the BdI determined an ”effective” rate transmitted to the market by discounting different bills to the various rates; we provide an original measure of this rate based on primary sources. The BdI changed its rate in response to th…
The Functioning of Bankruptcy Law and Practices in European Perspective (ca.1880–1913)
A growing body of research in economics and in business and economic history has shown the key role of bankruptcy and insolvency law on business organization, firms’ governance, and entrepreneurial choices. Most research, however, has focused on the formal aspects of laws, and still little is known on how various systems worked in practices. This paper fills this gap in the literature analyzing the functioning of bankruptcy procedures in four mai…
Dealing with failure
Cet article se penche sur le fonctionnement, dans les années 1890-1930, des deux procédures de faillite propres à l'Angleterre et au Pays de Galles. À partir de données statistiques nouvelles ou améliorées, il s'intéresse à l'arbitrage entre l'utilisation des solutions judiciaires officielles de règlement des faillites et le recours à des arrangements à l'amiable entre créanciers et débiteurs. Il montre ainsi que, pendant la période étudiée, les …
Location matters. Are science and policy arenas facing the Inner Peripheries challenges in EU
Bankruptcy Laws Around Europe (1850–2015)
Despite the relevance of bankruptcy law for a number of key issues regarding business functioning and organization, little is known about the features and evolution of these legal institutions over time and space. This paper starts to fill this gap in current knowledge by analyzing a new data set providing consistent information about key features of bankruptcy law between 1850 and 2015 in the thirty largest European economies. Regarding institut…
Microcredit in Palestine (1995–2008)
This article analyses the development and functioning of the microcredit industry in Palestine in the period between its establishment as a partially autonomous political entity (1994) and the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2008). The article shows how, despite the increase in potential demand for microcredit due to the deterioration of the economic environment, the growth of the sector has been below expectation. One of the most important c…
Recent Dynamics of the Mediterranean Vegetation and Landscape
Recent dynamics of the Mediterranean Vegetation and landscape
Approaching Disaster
Recent developments in economic theory have emphasised the relevance of the legal system in explaining why growth rates differ between national economies. Specifically, laws and enforcement instrum
Dealing with failure
Cet article se penche sur le fonctionnement, dans les années 1890-1930, des deux procédures de faillite propres à l'Angleterre et au Pays de Galles. À partir de données statistiques nouvelles ou améliorées, il s'intéresse à l'arbitrage entre l'utilisation des solutions judiciaires officielles de règlement des faillites et le recours à des arrangements à l'amiable entre créanciers et débiteurs. Il montre ainsi que, pendant la période étudiée, les …
Bankruptcy Law and Practice in Historical Perspective
This time is different
Companies' insolvency and 'the nature of the firm' in Italy, 1920s-70s1
This article analyses the functioning of Italian insolvency laws and practices, in particular their role in the selection and relaunch of viable firms. The article investigates the period between the 1920s and the 1970s, and focuses on joint-stock companies. Using comparative data on the number of cases, we show that in Italy firms mainly used the procedure calledfallimento(bankruptcy), consisting of the collection and subsequent liquidation of a…
Convergence and divergence of national financial systems
Legal institutions, social norms, and entrepreneurship in Britain (c.1890–c.1939) 1
This article analyses the functioning of debt‐discharge procedures in England and Wales in the light of the debate on entrepreneurial failure in the years between the late Victorian age and the interwar period. Using an original dataset and an empirical approach, it is argued that social norms, cultural elements, and class considerations influenced the outcome of decisions in a way that could have reduced the incentives for economic agents to eng…
Rome wasn't built in a day’
During the 1880s, a massive speculative boom occurred in the Roman real estate market. Its subsequent crash left a lasting mark on the structure of the city and triggered a nationwide banking crisis. This article analyses the causes of this boom and bust by showing how a small but cohesive lobby managed to bypass and bend to its own advantage formal regulation by exploiting institutional conflicts and political divisions at both national and loca…
Microcredit in Palestine (1995–2008)
This article analyses the development and functioning of the microcredit industry in Palestine in the period between its establishment as a partially autonomous political entity (1994) and the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2008). The article shows how, despite the increase in potential demand for microcredit due to the deterioration of the economic environment, the growth of the sector has been below expectation. One of the most important c…
Unsettled account
The Functioning of Bankruptcy Law and Practices in European Perspective (ca.1880–1913)
A growing body of research in economics and in business and economic history has shown the key role of bankruptcy and insolvency law on business organization, firms’ governance, and entrepreneurial choices. Most research, however, has focused on the formal aspects of laws, and still little is known on how various systems worked in practices. This paper fills this gap in the literature analyzing the functioning of bankruptcy procedures in four mai…
Happy 150th Anniversary, Italy
Happy 150th Anniversary, Italy?Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861 Paolo Di Martino (bio) and Michelangelo Vasta (bio) The 150th anniversary of Italian unification, celebrated in 2011, took place in the middle of a dramatic economic and political crisis. During that year, the economic downturn that followed the international banking crash of 2008–2009 almost led to the collapse of Italian public finances, and in November 2011, Prime …
Wealthy by Accident
In the century and half since its 1861 unification, Italy has left the periphery of the world economy and reached a level of wealth close to that of industrialized core Western countries. Since the 1990s, however, the process of globalization has exposed the weakness of the Italian productive system, and the country’s economic performance has been one of the worst in the world. This pattern raises questions about the very nature of the Italian ec…
Wealthy by Accident? Firm Structure, Institutions, and Economic Performance in 150 (+4) Years of Italian History
In the century and half since its 1861 unification, Italy has left the periphery of the world economy and reached a level of wealth close to that of industrialized core Western countries. Since the 1990s, however, the process of globalization has exposed the weakness of the Italian productive system, and the country’s economic performance has been one of the worst in the world. This pattern raises questions about the very nature of the Italian ec…
Happy 150 th Anniversary, Italy? Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861
The 150 th anniversary of Italian Unification, celebrated in 2011, took place in the middle of a dramatic economic and political crisis; during the year, the economic downturn that followed the international banking crash of 2008-09 almost led to the collapse of Italian public finances, and in November 2011 the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after months of political instability.The 2011 events, however, were the culmination of a trend…
Risk, success, and failure
This article analyses female entrepreneurship in late Victorian and Edwardian England. Traditional views on female entrepreneurship in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England point towards a decline in the number and relevance of women as business owners in comparison to the eighteenth century, and their retreat into a 'separate sphere' away from the world of trade and production. Recent studies, however, have deeply challenged this view, sugge…
Reassessing the Italian “Economic Miracle”
This article revisits and reassesses the evolution of Italian capitalism during the so called “economic miracle” (1950–1973). Using original sources, it analyzes how the average small, private firm, representing the vast majority of Italian businesses at the time, struggled to fully develop, grow, and modernize. The paper identifies the main source of the problem in a set of inefficient (or poorly-enforced) laws and regulations that allowed firms…
A tale of two Italies
This paper uses the ‘access orders’ paradigm developed by North, Wallis, and Weingast [(2009). Violence and social order: A conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to analyse the case of the Italian North–South economic divide. In line with their framework, we collect and discuss several social and political indicators over the long-run, at the regional level. Firstly we looked at data …
Bankruptcy Laws Around Europe (1850–2015)
Despite the relevance of bankruptcy law for a number of key issues regarding business functioning and organization, little is known about the features and evolution of these legal institutions over time and space. This paper starts to fill this gap in current knowledge by analyzing a new data set providing consistent information about key features of bankruptcy law between 1850 and 2015 in the thirty largest European economies. Regarding institut…
Location matters. Are science and policy arenas facing the Inner Peripheries challenges in EU
Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy
Central banks’ interventions in exchange rate markets during the international gold standard
This article reconstructs the history of direct interventions in exchange rate markets performed by the leading Italian banks of issue: the Banca Nazionale until 1893, then the Banca d'Italia between 1894 and 1913. The article shows that this type of operation represented a constant and relevant commitment for both institutions; interventions were made in the bills and/or the bonds market, sometimes also in conjunction with increases in the disco…
Monetary policy at the periphery during the Classical Gold Standard
This paper analyzes monetary policy in Italy between 1894 and WWI by focusing on the main bank of issue at the time (the Banca d’Italia , BdI) and the Treasury. We show that the Treasury set multiple official rates, and the BdI determined an ”effective” rate transmitted to the market by discounting different bills to the various rates; we provide an original measure of this rate based on primary sources. The BdI changed its rate in response to th…
Political science (20 works) · Economics (19 works) · Historical Economic and Social Studies (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Business (10 works) · Finance (9 works) · Italy: Economic History and Contemporary Issues (9 works) · Bankruptcy (7 works) · History (6 works) · Geography (5 works)