Finance and Economic Development in Italy, 1870-1913

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of financing (foreign capital, migrants’ remittances, and domestic banks intermediation) on Italy’s economic development between 1861 and the World War I. Existing literature has analysed the role of these channels of financial intermediation separately, while this paper for the first time considers them in conjunction. Using IRF from a Cholesky identification structure of a VAR model and relying on an original dataset that combines the most recent series of several financial and economic aggregates, this paper shows that investment in Italy was fueled by a plurality of sources of funding. A crucial role was played by national saving mobilized by domestic banks and also remittances had a significant impact. Our evidence is instead weaker for foreign capital

Does War Make States? Military Spending and the Italian State building, 1861-1945

We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the expansion of other governmental budgetary heading and tax revenues from the Unification of Italy (1861) up to the end of World War II. Mainly in the years preceding 1922, investments in education and social transfers to families moves together with the defense spending. That is, positive changes in defense implies both an increase in education and in transfers. Moreover, transfers also have a compensatory role during recessive phases. Positive changes in defence do not crowd out the investment in capital spending, while disinvestments in defense are associated with an increase in the investment in capital. The pro-cyclical behavior of the tax revenues is compatible with a debt financing dynamic of many government expenditures. Although our analytic narrative is not universally valid, it can support the persistent centrality of external war in the discontinuous development and expansion of the Italian central State, with some exceptions explained by the historical experience

Does War Make States? Military Spending and the Italian State building, 1861-1945

We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the expansion of other governmental budgetary heading and tax revenues from the Unification of Italy (1861) up to the end of World War II. Mainly in the years preceding 1922, investments in education and social transfers to families moves together with the defense spending. That is, positive changes in defense implies both an increase in education and in transfers. Moreover, transfers also have a compensatory role during recessive phases. Positive changes in defence do not crowd out the investment in capital spending, while disinvestments in defense are associated with an increase in the investment in capital. The pro-cyclical behavior of the tax revenues is compatible with a debt financing dynamic of many government expenditures. Although our analytic narrative is not universally valid, it can support the persistent centrality of external war in the discontinuous development and expansion of the Italian central State, with some exceptions explained by the historical experience

L'economia italiana in età liberale. Una raccolta di saggi di cliometria

Negli ultimi anni la cliometria si è affermata come il paradigma metodologico dominante nella storia economica. Questa disciplina utilizza gli strumenti teorici e le tecniche di analisi quantitativa propri dell’economia per indagare quei fenomeni a cui gli storici economici tradizionali avevano tentato di rispondere attraverso indagini qualitativo-descrittive e l’analisi delle fonti. Il presente volume presenta tre saggi dedicati ad altrettanti aspetti della storia economica dell’Italia liberale, un tema sul quale Stefano Fenoaltea, il fondatore della cliometria italiana, ha profuso tanti dei suoi sforzi di ricerca. Il primo analizza, usando l’analisi di cointegrazione e i test di causalità di Granger applicati alle serie storiche più recenti, la relazione tra commercio estero e crescita economica in Italia nel lungo periodo. Nel secondo viene investigato, usando un modello autoregressivo vettoriale (VAR), il legame tra capitale estero, mobilizzazione del risparmio nazionale, rimesse degli emigrati e sviluppo economico dell’Italia tra l’Unità nazionale e la Prima guerra mondiale. Infine, il terzo presenta una rassegna della storiografia cliometrica sulle tematiche di genere nell’Italia liberale

Thyroid hormone inhibition in L6 myoblasts of IGF-I-mediated glucose uptake and proliferation: New roles for integrin αvβ3

Thyroid hormones L-thyroxine (T4) and 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (Se

Tetrac and NDAT Induce Anti-proliferation via Integrin αvβ3 in Colorectal Cancers With Different K-RAS Status

Colorectal cancer is a serious medical problem in Taiwan. New, effective therapeutic approaches are needed. The selection of promising anticancer drugs and the transition from pre-clinical investigations to clinical trials are often challenging. The deaminated thyroid hormone analog (tetraiodothyroacetic acid, tetrac) and its nanoparticulate analog (NDAT) have been shown to have anti-proliferative activity in vitro and in xenograft model of different neoplasms, including colorectal cancers. However, mechanisms involved in tetrac- and NDAT-induced anti-proliferation in colorectal cancers are incompletely understood. We have investigated possible mechanisms of tetrac and NDAT action in colorectal cancer cells, using a perfusion bellows cell culture system that allows efficient, large-scale screening for mechanisms of drug actions on tumor cells. Although integrin αvβ3 in K-RAS wild type colorectal cancer HT-29 cells was far less than that in K-RAS mutant HCT116 cells, HT-29 was more sensitive to both tetrac and NDAT. Results also indicate that both tetrac and NDAT bind to tumor cell surface integrin αvβ3, and the agents may have different mechanisms of anti-proliferation in colorectal cancer cells. K-RAS status appears to play an important role in drug resistance that may be encountered in treatment with this drug combination