Les inégalités interrégionales : évolution au 19e siècle

The study presents new series of production and income per head, at a regional and national levels, for French agriculture in the 19th and the 20th centuries as well as a calculation of growth rates of total factor productivity for a sample of eleven agricultural regions over the 1851-1970 period. They give a more precise view of the stability of income inequalities between regions before and during the period of industrialization. They highlight three main trends : the improvemnent that accrued to regions at the periphery, when they were linked by rail ; the sharp deterioration of workers tied up to the land during the period of rural desindustrialization ; and the absence of cumulative advantages in favour of the central regions, near Paris, in contrast with what is known of leading and lagging regions in industry.