Economic history of Italy

This is a history of the economy of Italy. For more information on historical, cultural, demographic and sociological developments in Italy, see the chronological era articles in the template to the right. For more information on specific political and governmental regimes in Italy, see the Kingdom and Fascist regime articles.

Until the end of the 16th century, Italy was highly prosperous relative to other parts of Europe. From the end of the 16th century, Italy stagnated relative to other parts of Europe. At the time of Italian unification, Italy's GDP per capita was about half of that of Britain. By the 1980s, Italy had similar GDP per capita as Great Britain. Since the mid-1990s, the Italian economy has declined in both relative and absolute terms, as well as experienced a decline in aggregate productivity.