ABSTRACT
This chapter presents whether the policies in favour of the Mezzogiorno are to be regarded without exception as a failure. It reviews the different phases of policy-making since WWII. The chapter discusses the state of the debate–and in particular the need for bottom up policies–emphasizing the lessons that can be learnt from the past as well as the differentiated situations existing within the Mezzogiorno. The data show that the labour costs per unit of output are lower in the Mezzogiorno than in other areas of the country. Migration away from the south has been a distinguishing feature of many phases of the Mezzogiorno's history. The policies adopted in Italy for the development of the Mezzogiorno from 1950 to the mid-1990s are nowadays the object of harsh criticism.
