The displacement of the centre of the European economy from the Mediterra-nean to the Atlantic and the beginning of North-South divergence in Europe has been discussed on the basis of data on real wages, urbanisation rates and, more recently, estimates of GDP for a number of European countries. The pur-pose of the present article is to contribute to this line of research with the elaboration of yearly series of total energy consumption in Italy and England for the long period 1560-1913. New data on energy services, energy intensity and, finally, social savings from the use of energy is also presented and dis-cussed both for Italy and England. This new data allows us to specify that en-ergy played a central role. Yet it was relatively late that its importance as a pro-vider of mechanical work developed fully; that is from 1830 onwards in Eng-land and from the end of the nineteenth century in Italy.

Energy Consumption in England and Italy. Two Pathways towards Energy Transition, “Economic History Review”, 69, 1, 2016, pp. 78-103.

Malanima P
2016-01-01

Abstract

The displacement of the centre of the European economy from the Mediterra-nean to the Atlantic and the beginning of North-South divergence in Europe has been discussed on the basis of data on real wages, urbanisation rates and, more recently, estimates of GDP for a number of European countries. The pur-pose of the present article is to contribute to this line of research with the elaboration of yearly series of total energy consumption in Italy and England for the long period 1560-1913. New data on energy services, energy intensity and, finally, social savings from the use of energy is also presented and dis-cussed both for Italy and England. This new data allows us to specify that en-ergy played a central role. Yet it was relatively late that its importance as a pro-vider of mechanical work developed fully; that is from 1830 onwards in Eng-land and from the end of the nineteenth century in Italy.
2016
Energy; pre-modern Europe; economic growth
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12317/1015
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 28
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact