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Abstract

This paper is in some respects a continuation of a previous article,1 in which we set out to demonstrate that Antonio Serra took a fully mercantilist approach; that — on examining the Kingdom of Naples — he was the first to investigate economic backwardness; and, finally, that he was also the first to analyse economic dependence (together with Luis Ortiz,2 but more in depth). Here we mean to show that Serra’s analysis is also useful to understand both the origin of Southern Italy’s backwardness and some basic processes of underdevelopment in general.

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Notes

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© 2016 Cosimo Perrotta

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Perrotta, C. (2016). Serra and Underdevelopment. In: Patalano, R., Reinert, S.A. (eds) Antonio Serra and the Economics of Good Government. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137539960_11

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