The paper focuses on the evolution of the capacity of Italian goods to reach international markets from the Unification (1861) up to now. In so doing we provide a wide range of new series on the topic. On one hand we present the general trends of macroeconomic data related to trade, on the other...

the specialization in exporting primary products is frequently deemed harmful for long-run development, because it increases volatility of terms of trade and thus the number and frequency of macroeconomic shocks. One would expect modern economic growth to solve the problem by changing the...