The analysis of territorial disparities, public policies for reducing inequalities, and the development of the Mezzogiorno is essential to understand the dynamics of contemporary Italy and the country's positioning in the international context, within the various phases of global economic cycles, in a comparative key with the experiences of convergence or divergence manifested in other European contexts.

The objective of the PRIN 2022, The assessment of regional development policies in Italy through a new database (1950s-2000s) is to contribute to the reconstruction of quantitative series and the analysis of the effectiveness and impact of measures supporting the industrialization of the Mezzogiorno, promoting a long-term reflection, considering the different phases from the Extraordinary Intervention of the 1950s to the "New Programming" of the late 1990s, up to the most recent cohesion policies.

The PRIN was promoted by the Universities of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" and "Magna Graecia" of Catanzaro, with the participation of researchers from other universities and subject matter experts, in collaboration with Svimez, Astrid and other national research centers.