My Italy

In the spring of 1897, although the aviation craze started by Siegel and Carney was rising, this was after all a game for the rich. For the poor people, they still need to pay more attention to their own lives. Just take a look at a high-level sport like aviation.

According to a survey by the Italian government, Italy currently has 3.74 million workers, nearly three times more than the 1.29 million workers ten years ago. This fully illustrates the development and growth of Italian industry in these ten years. However, although the size of Italian workers is growing, the increase in wages of Italian workers is far from satisfactory.

Taking the textile industry, which currently has the largest number of workers in Italy, as an example, a skilled male textile worker's monthly salary is 140-160 lire, while that of a female worker is 110-130 lire.

As for child labor, due to the promotion of caring people, the Italian government strictly prohibits the recruitment of minors under the age of 16, otherwise a fine of 200,000 to 1 million lire will be imposed (200,000 lire for one child labor, with a maximum of 5 caps), so no factory in Italy dares to Use of child labor.

In terms of wages, the wages of Italian workers are twice as low as those of British textile workers, and about 75% lower than those of neighboring France. There is no way, Italy is a late-developing industrial country, so it can only use low prices as weapons to find a place for its own products.

Of course, as a factory worker, your salary is definitely lower than in surrounding countries.

Well, there is actually another reason, that is, Italy has a large number of unemployed people, and workers do not dare to ask for too much.

Because Italian agriculture is also undergoing capitalization.

From 1870 onwards in northern Italy, capitalized large farms gradually became dominant in the northern regions. In these large farms, hired workers were engaged in production work, large-scale drainage and irrigation projects were built, new technologies and chemical fertilizers were adopted, and the specialization of agricultural production was strengthened. As a result, total agricultural production in the North is now twice as high as it was in 1870.

In central and southern Italy, capitalized large farms also developed and expanded in the two places starting from 1880 and 1885 respectively. In the center, large farms already dominate, but in the south it is also accelerating, and within five years it is expected that large farms in southern Italy will also dominate.

The implementation of capitalized large farms has brought huge changes to the development of Italian agriculture. Italian agricultural products have increased by 64% since unification, and most of the credit comes from the promotion of capitalized large farms.

Of course, this also brings a side effect, that is, large farms do not require too many employees to operate. Large farms with more production materials only need half of the employees to complete the planting volume, and this has also led to the influx of a large number of landless farmers. City.

The large influx of farmers will also impose a considerable burden on cities. Of course, it will have a huge impact on workers and industry.

A large number of laborers entered the city, accelerating Italy's industrialization. Of course, the most critical factor was the Italian government's continuous opening of vast markets. Italy's own domestic demand simply cannot support its industrialization process.

In fact, Italian industry has not absorbed all the labor force flowing into the cities. Here we have to mention the two reservoirs prepared by the Italian government for this purpose, Albania and Libya. Although there was a lot of uproar and uproar in the city at that time because of the relocation of all the indigenous people in these two areas, it also freed up a flood discharge pond for Italy.

The two places accommodated a total of one million people and solved a lot of troubles for Italy. Of course, East Africa and Borneo also absorbed part of it. Therefore, during this period, Italy's foreign immigration (non-colonial immigrants) did not increase much, from nearly 100,000 per year, to about 120,000.

Of course, including colonial immigrants, Italy’s annual immigration is about 200,000, which is also not low. To some extent, the colonies also served as a demographic catharsis.

However, at this time, the population growth rate in various Italian cities was not small. Take Milan as an example. In ten years, Milan's population has grown from 330,000 to 490,000 now, which is a significant increase. In addition, Turin has also increased from 250,000 to the current 330,000.

In addition, as the third largest city in Italy, Rome’s population is also growing rapidly, from 300,000 to the current 460,000. The south is also good, with Palermo growing from 240,000 to 340,000 and Naples from 410,000 to 490,000.

The growth of urban population is also the result of economic growth.

Of course, the economy drives population growth equally well. The current birth rate in Italy is 31.8‰, the death rate is 19.7‰, and the natural growth rate is 12.1‰. However, considering that there are currently about 200,000 immigrants every year, the current annual population growth rate is not Large, it fluctuates around 200,000.

However, the growth of Italy's local population is actually determined by industrialization. Industry cannot accommodate the excess population, which will naturally lead to the loss of population. However, it is currently very difficult for Italy to allow industry to further accommodate more people. Because of the market developed by Italy, the exploitability is about to bottom out.

At present, the overseas markets for Italian industrial products are mainly concentrated in the Far East, the Borneo colonies and the Balkan Peninsula. People in Western Europe have higher living standards, and Italy's price advantage is not easy to use (because of high tariffs).

Among them, the scale of the Far East market in Italy has almost been developed to the extreme, and it is no longer possible to continue to grow significantly. Of course, Italy has potential to be tapped as a transit trader, such as the trade of raw silk, tung oil, bristle and other Far Eastern specialties. However, these cannot solve the problem of Italian industrial products.

At this time, Italian industry needs to transform, and Rome also understands that the Italian economy has gradually transformed from an extensive economic growth model to an intensive economic growth model.

Of course this is easier said than done. However, for Italy, this matter must be done, and the sky will be brighter if it goes further, allowing Italian industrialization to embark on a broad road. Taking a step back, this is falling into a trap, leaving Italian industry to fall into internal friction.

In this regard, knowledgeable people in Italy also see it.

For example, Pareto, a famous Italian economist, pointed out that if the current pace of Italian industrial development is to be improved, important enterprises must be selected for support.

This Pareto is the proposer of the 28 theory. Because this person believes that important factors usually account for only a minority, while unimportant factors often account for the majority. Therefore, we only need to control an important few to control the overall situation, which is reflected in the quantity ratio, which is roughly 2:8.

Does it feel a little familiar? Yes, this is the monopoly stage of the capital economy.

The economist is advocating the benefits of monopoly to Italy's economic development, and he is right. Monopoly does promote the Italian economy, but monopoly also brings harm.

Who can turn a blind eye?