In this article, we study the effect of the Unification on the network power of economic elites in the South of Italy. We study the persistence of economic elites as evidence of the stability of the institutional set up beyond the effect of Unification, and thus as a primary explaining factor of the persistence of social forces slowing and opposing modernization. We use original archival data on the universe of Naples enterprises to build the networks of business relations between individual economic actors for the 20-year period immediately before and after Unification. The persistence of network power and its determinants is tested via a difference-in-difference model. The main finding is that economic elites persist over Unification. The long-term business relations, rooted in the Bourbon period, the persisting lobbying power of the financial industry, the close collusive ties with potential foreign competitors and the closeness to politics after 1861 are all elements that explain how the Southern economic elites were able to crowd-out the change.

在本文中，我们研究了统一对意大利南部经济精英网络力量的影响。我们研究了经济精英的持续存在，以此作为制度设置稳定的证据，证明了其不受统一的影响，因此，是社会力量持续存在并反对现代化的持久性的主要解释因素。我们使用那不勒斯企业领域的原始存档数据来建立统一前后20年间各个经济参与者之间的业务关系网络。网络功率及其决定因素的持久性通过差异差异模型进行测试。主要发现是经济精英在统一问题上坚持不懈。根植于波旁王朝时期的长期业务关系，