Innovation in Property Rights and Economic Development in Lombardy, Eighteenth-Twentieth centuries

The essay deals with the role of state led institutional reforms in property rights since the second half of the eighteenth century to modernize Lombard agriculture and to accelerate economic development. The essay is organized into five sections. The first presents the historical setting in which the reforms operated. The second provides an analysis of the cadastral reforms and their impacts on Lombard agriculture. The third presents the main issues referring to some comparative cases. The fourth attempts a systematization of the historical, social and cultural factors that mediated the concrete implementation of property rights. The fifth and final section presents concluding remarks.