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Marco Martinez

University of Pisa, Economics and Management, Faculty Member

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My current research focuses on the development of the Italian economy since 1815, with particular emphasis on the evolution of inventive activity and human capital, also in relation to major industrial and development policies, such as those related to early infrastructure development and post-World War II international reconstruction aid.
Supervisors: Alessandro Nuvolari

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Henley Business School

Timo Myllyntaus

University of Turku

Brescia University

José M. Ortiz-Villajos

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Universidad de la República

Brescia University

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

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Papers by Marco Martinez

Assessing Ancient Inequalities: Hellenistic Delos

Review of Income and Wealth, 2025

This paper presents a new data set that measures inequality levels in the city-state of Delos at ... more This paper presents a new data set that measures inequality levels in the city-state of Delos at two different points in time during the period of its independence (314 – 167 BCE). We propose a new approach for quantifying ancient inequality and its evolution by relying on inscriptions that indicate property data and artisanal remunerations. A probabilistic approach is adopted to assess the uncertainty of the estimates and their sensitivity to assumptions. This paper finds that there was a decrease in wealth inequality of about 20% between the early and late periods of independence. We hypothesize that the main reason for the socio-economic changes is to be found in the new political status of autonomy being held by the middle class.

Women inventors in Italy, 1861-1939

Business History, 2025

This paper studies women's participation in innovative activities during the deep societal change... more This paper studies women's participation in innovative activities during the deep societal changes of twentieth-century Italy. It does so by tracking female inventors among the 330,000+ patents registered in Italy between 1861 and 1939. The resulting dataset allows us to disaggregate women's inventive activity across industries, provinces, and social backgrounds. Despite accounting for only 0.7% of total patents, the number of women patenting increased steadily from 1861 to 1939. Until 1920, the growth of female-linked patents was comparable to that of maleonly patents, but started to slow down during Fascism. The gap between the quality of inventions registered by women and men was gradually reduced. Women also patented in a wide variety of technological sectors. This suggests that entrepreneurial women were able to innovate, but that systemic barriers, particularly during the Fascist period, limited their inventive potential, suggesting an intersection of gender dynamics and political climate in shaping female inventive activities.

Intergenerational Mobility in Nineteenth Century Italy: a case study approach, 1815-1866

Rivista di Storia Economica / Italian Review of Economic History, 2024

This paper aims at exploring the female and male dynamics of intergenerational mobility of occupa... more This paper aims at exploring the female and male dynamics of intergenerational mobility of occupations in 19th-century Italy by investigating the relationship between social mobility and industrialization at its very early stages. In this endeavor, we draw upon individual-level occupational data from marriage certificates collected from four different State archives for two benchmark years, 1815 and 1866. We follow a case-study approach, focusing on two medium-size cities and surrounding municipalities that would have played a role in the country’s industrial development and two rural areas (Brescia, Salerno, the province of Udine, and Pisticci). Both men and women exhibited an increase in mobility throughout the 19th century, but the increase was more pronounced for women. We explain the limited role of literacy in increasing social mobility rates by pointing out that, at the time, limited educational provision, particularly for girls, meant that being educated was a result of high social status.

It's not about the money: New evidence on U.S. reconstruction aid in Italy, 1947-68

The Economic History Review, 2024

This paper studies the economic impact of foreign aid on Italian firms. In particular, I study th... more This paper studies the economic impact of foreign aid on Italian firms. In particular, I study the different effects of three main forms of aid: Export–Import Bank loans, Marshall Plan European Recovery Program (ERP) ‘dollars’ loans and the Marshall Plan ERP ‘lire’ loans. In all pro- grammes, the United States sent technologically advanced machinery to allow for a modernization of the technology of Italian firms, but the conditions of such loans differed. This paper tests how crucial such different features have been for the effectiveness of firm reconstruction aid. By cre- ating a new dataset on recipient firms and linking it to a large comprehensive firm-level dataset (Imita.db), I com- pare the effects on the performance of firms. I find that the Export–Import Bank loan raised the long-run profitability of firms, but that firms which received more flexible forms of Marshall Plan aid (‘ERP-lire’) raised their performance much more than Export–Import Bank recipients. Recipi- ents who only received funds provided with long delays (‘ERP-dollars’) did not benefit from them. This evidence suggests that rather than receiving foreign aid per se, the most crucial features of reconstruction aid in Italy have been obtaining the requested goods on time and adjusting requests to receive the most needed productive goods.

The origins of Italian human capital divides: new evidence from marriage signatures, ca. 1815

Cliometrica, 2024

This paper provides new evidence on the geography of literacy rates in pre-unitary Italy. I provi... more This paper provides new evidence on the geography of literacy rates in pre-unitary Italy. I provide direct estimates based on a novel and balanced random sample of marriage certificates in 1815. The new figures are disaggregated by gender, area, and skill levels, and are compared to the relevant alternative estimates available. Literacy rates are generally low, and North versus South difference in 1815 literacy was as low as 13.7 percentage points, with the Southern literacy rate of about 50% that of Northern Italy. The North-South gap is much smaller for women than for men, and the average female literacy rate across Italy is a lower 9%. Literacy rates in Central Italy were almost identical to that of Southern Italy, arguably because the schooling systems of Central and Southern Italy were more elitist than the Northern Italian one. This evidence suggests that, although partially present also before 1815, the wide magnitude of North-South gaps in literacy which characterized the country on the eve of the political unification (1861) originated after the Napoleonic period. Primary school centralization reforms might have helped women to rapidly improve literacy rates, leading to a first, regionally unequal, 'Silent Revolution' (Cappelli and Vasta in Cliometrica 15:1-27, 2020a).

Rome and the Polis: Tradition and Change in the Financial Accounts of Tauromenion, I Century B.C.

Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Jun 1, 2022

Ancient historians provide us a partial, mostly favourable to Rome, picture of the expansion duri... more Ancient historians provide us a partial, mostly favourable to Rome, picture of the expansion during the Republic. However, not much attention has been devoted to the local economic history of the Greek cities that became part of the Roman state. Thanks to a completely new edition of the financial accounts of the Greek city-state of Tauromenion from the I century B.C., we shed new light on the inter- twined process of institutional and economic change in Sicily during the I century B.C. In addition to informing us about the aggregate economic movements of the city, the Tauromenion accounts also show clear signs of Roman influence as months and magistrates were named after the Roman tradition. We find that there was no structural break in the civic accounts associated with this institutional change, but rather that the generally wealthy city of Tauromenion showed signs of financial dis- tress in the last years before the change. The evidence suggests that rather than be- ing an imposition of Rome, institutional change was voluntarily embraced by mid- dle-sized cities such as Tauromenion and could be motivated by economic reasons.

Why Experimental Balance is Still a Reason to Randomize

The British Journal of Philosophy of Science, 2024

Experimental balance is usually understood as the control for the value of the conditions, other ... more Experimental balance is usually understood as the control for the value of the conditions, other than the one under study, which are liable to affect the result of a test. We will discuss three different approaches to balance. 'Millean balance' requires to identify and equalize ex ante the value of these conditions in order to conduct solid causal inferences. 'Fisherian balance' measures ex post the influence of uncontrolled conditions through the analysis of variance. In 'efficiency balance' the value of the antecedent conditions is decided ex ante according to the efficiency they yield in the estimation of the treatment outcome. Against some old arguments by John Worrall, we will show that in both Fisherian and efficiency balance there are good reasons to randomize the allocation of treatments, in particular when there is no agreement among experimenters as to the antecedent conditions to be controlled for.

Drafts by Marco Martinez

Ambiguità del progresso tecnico tra Tucidide e Platone: un'interpretazione delle soluzioni proposte attraverso il filo rosso del δεινός

Il progresso tecnico ha suscitato uno stupore misto di angoscia e ammirazione oggi come sin dalle... more Il progresso tecnico ha suscitato uno stupore misto di angoscia e ammirazione oggi come sin dalle prime riflessioni sul tema ad oggi pervenuteci. La parola greca che riassume questo sentimento ambivalente, anche ma non solo rispetto al progresso tecnico, è δεινός. Attraverso una lettura di passi di Tucidide e Platone in questo lavoro argomento che questi autori hanno espresso un simile sentimento ambivalente nei confronti del progresso tecnico, e che entrambi hanno proposto soluzioni possibili a tale ambivalenza. Tucidide confida nella capacità dei politici di evitare l'insorgere di guerre e conflitti tramite la previsione di eventi futuri in base allo studio di quelli passati (la πρόνοια). Platone invece confida nella capacit regolatrice di una super-τέχνη con scopi apertamente morali, e che coinciderebbe con la τέχνη politica (fatta di giustizia e legislazione) se i politici riuscissero a indirizzare i desideri dei cittadini verso il bene. Ma poiché questi politici Platone non li ha mai conosciuti, neanche nel passato, ripone la fiducia nella τέχνη dialettica dei legislatori, in un modello di città dove tutti sono ugualmente subordinati alle leggi. Il ricorso alla dialettica sembra una soluzione praticabile nonostante avvenga nel contesto di uno spostamento del modello tecnico al cosmo.

Assessing Ancient Inequalities: Hellenistic Delos

Review of Income and Wealth, 2025

This paper presents a new data set that measures inequality levels in the city-state of Delos at ... more This paper presents a new data set that measures inequality levels in the city-state of Delos at two different points in time during the period of its independence (314 – 167 BCE). We propose a new approach for quantifying ancient inequality and its evolution by relying on inscriptions that indicate property data and artisanal remunerations. A probabilistic approach is adopted to assess the uncertainty of the estimates and their sensitivity to assumptions. This paper finds that there was a decrease in wealth inequality of about 20% between the early and late periods of independence. We hypothesize that the main reason for the socio-economic changes is to be found in the new political status of autonomy being held by the middle class.

Women inventors in Italy, 1861-1939

Business History, 2025

This paper studies women's participation in innovative activities during the deep societal change... more This paper studies women's participation in innovative activities during the deep societal changes of twentieth-century Italy. It does so by tracking female inventors among the 330,000+ patents registered in Italy between 1861 and 1939. The resulting dataset allows us to disaggregate women's inventive activity across industries, provinces, and social backgrounds. Despite accounting for only 0.7% of total patents, the number of women patenting increased steadily from 1861 to 1939. Until 1920, the growth of female-linked patents was comparable to that of maleonly patents, but started to slow down during Fascism. The gap between the quality of inventions registered by women and men was gradually reduced. Women also patented in a wide variety of technological sectors. This suggests that entrepreneurial women were able to innovate, but that systemic barriers, particularly during the Fascist period, limited their inventive potential, suggesting an intersection of gender dynamics and political climate in shaping female inventive activities.

Intergenerational Mobility in Nineteenth Century Italy: a case study approach, 1815-1866

Rivista di Storia Economica / Italian Review of Economic History, 2024

This paper aims at exploring the female and male dynamics of intergenerational mobility of occupa... more This paper aims at exploring the female and male dynamics of intergenerational mobility of occupations in 19th-century Italy by investigating the relationship between social mobility and industrialization at its very early stages. In this endeavor, we draw upon individual-level occupational data from marriage certificates collected from four different State archives for two benchmark years, 1815 and 1866. We follow a case-study approach, focusing on two medium-size cities and surrounding municipalities that would have played a role in the country’s industrial development and two rural areas (Brescia, Salerno, the province of Udine, and Pisticci). Both men and women exhibited an increase in mobility throughout the 19th century, but the increase was more pronounced for women. We explain the limited role of literacy in increasing social mobility rates by pointing out that, at the time, limited educational provision, particularly for girls, meant that being educated was a result of high social status.

It's not about the money: New evidence on U.S. reconstruction aid in Italy, 1947-68

The Economic History Review, 2024

This paper studies the economic impact of foreign aid on Italian firms. In particular, I study th... more This paper studies the economic impact of foreign aid on Italian firms. In particular, I study the different effects of three main forms of aid: Export–Import Bank loans, Marshall Plan European Recovery Program (ERP) ‘dollars’ loans and the Marshall Plan ERP ‘lire’ loans. In all pro- grammes, the United States sent technologically advanced machinery to allow for a modernization of the technology of Italian firms, but the conditions of such loans differed. This paper tests how crucial such different features have been for the effectiveness of firm reconstruction aid. By cre- ating a new dataset on recipient firms and linking it to a large comprehensive firm-level dataset (Imita.db), I com- pare the effects on the performance of firms. I find that the Export–Import Bank loan raised the long-run profitability of firms, but that firms which received more flexible forms of Marshall Plan aid (‘ERP-lire’) raised their performance much more than Export–Import Bank recipients. Recipi- ents who only received funds provided with long delays (‘ERP-dollars’) did not benefit from them. This evidence suggests that rather than receiving foreign aid per se, the most crucial features of reconstruction aid in Italy have been obtaining the requested goods on time and adjusting requests to receive the most needed productive goods.

The origins of Italian human capital divides: new evidence from marriage signatures, ca. 1815

Cliometrica, 2024

This paper provides new evidence on the geography of literacy rates in pre-unitary Italy. I provi... more This paper provides new evidence on the geography of literacy rates in pre-unitary Italy. I provide direct estimates based on a novel and balanced random sample of marriage certificates in 1815. The new figures are disaggregated by gender, area, and skill levels, and are compared to the relevant alternative estimates available. Literacy rates are generally low, and North versus South difference in 1815 literacy was as low as 13.7 percentage points, with the Southern literacy rate of about 50% that of Northern Italy. The North-South gap is much smaller for women than for men, and the average female literacy rate across Italy is a lower 9%. Literacy rates in Central Italy were almost identical to that of Southern Italy, arguably because the schooling systems of Central and Southern Italy were more elitist than the Northern Italian one. This evidence suggests that, although partially present also before 1815, the wide magnitude of North-South gaps in literacy which characterized the country on the eve of the political unification (1861) originated after the Napoleonic period. Primary school centralization reforms might have helped women to rapidly improve literacy rates, leading to a first, regionally unequal, 'Silent Revolution' (Cappelli and Vasta in Cliometrica 15:1-27, 2020a).

Rome and the Polis: Tradition and Change in the Financial Accounts of Tauromenion, I Century B.C.

Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Jun 1, 2022

Ancient historians provide us a partial, mostly favourable to Rome, picture of the expansion duri... more Ancient historians provide us a partial, mostly favourable to Rome, picture of the expansion during the Republic. However, not much attention has been devoted to the local economic history of the Greek cities that became part of the Roman state. Thanks to a completely new edition of the financial accounts of the Greek city-state of Tauromenion from the I century B.C., we shed new light on the inter- twined process of institutional and economic change in Sicily during the I century B.C. In addition to informing us about the aggregate economic movements of the city, the Tauromenion accounts also show clear signs of Roman influence as months and magistrates were named after the Roman tradition. We find that there was no structural break in the civic accounts associated with this institutional change, but rather that the generally wealthy city of Tauromenion showed signs of financial dis- tress in the last years before the change. The evidence suggests that rather than be- ing an imposition of Rome, institutional change was voluntarily embraced by mid- dle-sized cities such as Tauromenion and could be motivated by economic reasons.

Why Experimental Balance is Still a Reason to Randomize

The British Journal of Philosophy of Science, 2024

Experimental balance is usually understood as the control for the value of the conditions, other ... more Experimental balance is usually understood as the control for the value of the conditions, other than the one under study, which are liable to affect the result of a test. We will discuss three different approaches to balance. 'Millean balance' requires to identify and equalize ex ante the value of these conditions in order to conduct solid causal inferences. 'Fisherian balance' measures ex post the influence of uncontrolled conditions through the analysis of variance. In 'efficiency balance' the value of the antecedent conditions is decided ex ante according to the efficiency they yield in the estimation of the treatment outcome. Against some old arguments by John Worrall, we will show that in both Fisherian and efficiency balance there are good reasons to randomize the allocation of treatments, in particular when there is no agreement among experimenters as to the antecedent conditions to be controlled for.

Ambiguità del progresso tecnico tra Tucidide e Platone: un'interpretazione delle soluzioni proposte attraverso il filo rosso del δεινός

Il progresso tecnico ha suscitato uno stupore misto di angoscia e ammirazione oggi come sin dalle... more Il progresso tecnico ha suscitato uno stupore misto di angoscia e ammirazione oggi come sin dalle prime riflessioni sul tema ad oggi pervenuteci. La parola greca che riassume questo sentimento ambivalente, anche ma non solo rispetto al progresso tecnico, è δεινός. Attraverso una lettura di passi di Tucidide e Platone in questo lavoro argomento che questi autori hanno espresso un simile sentimento ambivalente nei confronti del progresso tecnico, e che entrambi hanno proposto soluzioni possibili a tale ambivalenza. Tucidide confida nella capacità dei politici di evitare l'insorgere di guerre e conflitti tramite la previsione di eventi futuri in base allo studio di quelli passati (la πρόνοια). Platone invece confida nella capacit regolatrice di una super-τέχνη con scopi apertamente morali, e che coinciderebbe con la τέχνη politica (fatta di giustizia e legislazione) se i politici riuscissero a indirizzare i desideri dei cittadini verso il bene. Ma poiché questi politici Platone non li ha mai conosciuti, neanche nel passato, ripone la fiducia nella τέχνη dialettica dei legislatori, in un modello di città dove tutti sono ugualmente subordinati alle leggi. Il ricorso alla dialettica sembra una soluzione praticabile nonostante avvenga nel contesto di uno spostamento del modello tecnico al cosmo.