Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena

Professor of Economic History at the Department of Economics and Statistics of the University of Siena.

He studied economic history, history of science and economics at the University of Florence (Italy) and at the University of Oxford, where he received his D.Phil. His main fields of interest are: economics of innovation in the long run perspective, institutions and economic performance, the economic history of living standard, entrepreneurship and trade. He pays particular attention to historical dataset and quantitative methods. He has published extensively in the top five economic history journals and the top three business history journals.

 

 

 

 

Personal webpage

Catching the technological frontier? Vocational and technical education (VTE) and inventive activity in Italy, 1861-1911.
Cappelli, G., Insa-Sánchez, P. and Vasta, M. (2025)
Mimeo

Italy’s Long-Term Economic Performance: GDP Estimates from 1300 to 1861
Federico, G., Nuvolari, A., Ridolfi, L., & Vasta, M. (2024)
CEPR Discussion Papers

Whither education? The long shadow of pre-unification school systems into Italy’s Liberal Age (1861–1911)
Bozzano, M., Cappelli, G., & Vasta, M. (2024)
The Journal of Economic History, 84(1), 149-190

Whither education? The long shadow of preunification school systems into Italy’s Liberal Age (1861-1911)
Bozzano, M.; Cappelli, G; Vasta, M.
Journal of Economic History, forthcoming

Whither education? The long shadow of pre-unification school systems into Italy’s Liberal Age (1861-1911)

Bozzano, M.; Cappelli, G; Vasta, M. (2022)
CEPR DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES DP16976

Human capital in Europe, 1830s – 1930s: towards a new spatial dataset

Cappelli, G.; Ridolfi, L.; Vasta, M; Westberg, J. (2022)
Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia Politica e Statistica, no. 873

A ‘Silent Revolution’: school reforms and Italy’s educational gender gap in the Liberal Age (1861-1921)

Cappelli, G.; Vasta, M. (2021)
Cliometrica, 15(1), pp. 203-229

Il capitale umano: il fattore mancante dello sviluppo economico italiano

Cappelli, G.; Vasta, M. (2021)
in M. D’Alberti, F. Amatori (ed.), L’impresa italiana, vol. II (Temi e problemi), Roma, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, pp. 673-690

The Race between the Snail and the Tortoise: Skill Premium and Early Industrialization in Italy (1861-1913)

Federico, G.; Nuvolari, A.; Ridolfi, L.; Vasta, M. (2021)
Cliometrica, 15(1), pp. 1-42

Patenting the “Risorgimento”: Economic Integration and the Formation of the Italian Patent System

Nuvolari, A.; Vasta, M. (2021)
Jahrbuch fur Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 60(1), pp. 93-122

Can school centralization foster human capital accumulation? A quasi-experiment from early twentieth-century Italy

Cappelli, G.; Vasta, M. (2020)
The Economic History Review, 73(1), pp. 159-184

A tale of two Italies: “access-orders” and the Italian regional divide

Di Martino, P.; Felice, E.; Vasta, M. (2020)
Scandinavian Economic History Review, 68(1), pp. 1-22

The Italian Patent System during the Long Nineteenth Century: from Privileges to Property Rights in a Latecomer Industrializing Country

Nuvolari, A.; Vasta, M. (2020)
in G. Gooday, S. Wilf (eds.), Patent Cultures. Diversity and Harmonization in Historical Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 147-165.

The Origins of the Italian Regional Divide: Evidence from Real Wages, 1861-1913

Federico, G.; Nuvolari, A.; Vasta, M. (2019)
Journal of Economic History, 79(1), pp. 63-98

Alla ricerca delle origini del declino economico italiano

Felice, E.; Nuvolari, A.; Vasta, M. (2019)
L’Industria, 40(2), pp. 197-222