Structural change, growth, and convergence in Italy: 1951–1970.

• Previous literature on growth and convergence ignored the role of structural change and of internal and international migration flows during the years of the Italian economic miracle. • Structural change was the most important source of growth in Italy during those years. • The role of structural change was different in Southern and Center-Northern regions. • Internal and international migration neither affected growth, nor convergence. We study the role of structural change on convergence in Italy by investigating the shifting of the labor force from agricultural to the manufacturing, market service, and nonmarket service sectors during the years of the Italian economic miracle. We find that the standard capital deepening mechanism was not the one that worked for convergence, rather it was structural change. Furthermore, we document that such a role was heterogeneous between the Center-Northern and the Southern regions. Finally, notwithstanding the huge internal and international migration flows that occurred during this period, we detect no significant role of migration in the convergence process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]