The Economic History of Italy 1860-1990
The Economic History of Italy 1860-1990

Author: Vera Zamagni

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 1993-10-28

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0191590223

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This book gives a full account of the economic and social history of Italy since unification (1860), with an introduction covering the previous period since the Middle Ages. The Economic History of Italy represents a scholarly and authoritative account of Italy's progress from a rural economy to an industrialized nation. The book makes a broad division of the period into three parts: the take-off (1860-1913), the consolidation in the midst of two wars and a world depression (1914-47), and the great expansion (1948-1990). Professor Zamagni traces the growth of industrialization, and argues that despite several advanced areas Italy only became an industrialized nation after the Second World War, and that during the 1980s the South was still clearly behind the rest of the country. Zamagni analyses data both from a macroeconomic position, in looking at the growth of the finance sector, or the role of the State, and from a microeconomic position when she draws conclusions from the changing population structure, or from the actions of individual businesses. Professor Zamagni reveals that even though the population more than doubled during this time the level of national income rose 19-fold, to move Italy from a peripheral status in Europe to a central position as a prosperous country. A central theme of the book is Professor Zamagni's argument that the Italian economy has been successful not by any great individuality of its own but by being flexible enough to incorporate the successes of other countries: Japan's integrated business network, for example, or Germany's financial structure. She places the industrialization of Italy in the international context by comparing Italy's GDP and other measures of prosperity at different times to the USA, Japan, the UK, France, and Germany. The book is based on original field-work by the author, and the many detailed but small-scale studies existing in Italian. Quantitative trends are described in more than 70 tables of data, while the book provides appendices containing chronologies of main events in various sectors and biographies.

Meritocracy, Growth, and Lessons from Italy's Economic Decline
Meritocracy, Growth, and Lessons from Italy's Economic Decline

Author: Lorenzo Codogno

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-09-05

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0192692216

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This book draws lessons on the importance of meritocracy for economic growth by analysing Italy's economic decline in the past few decades. Connections, rather than merit, are a long-standing feature of the Italian elites, even in the corporate sector. This became a significant problem when Italy's economy could no longer grow due to imitation, devaluation, and public debt, and faced the challenges of becoming a frontier knowledge-based open economy. This book uses international comparisons on social capital, governance, the role of the public sector, efficiency of the judiciary, education, gender and social inequality, social mobility, corporate standards, financial structures, and more to evaluate Italy's economic performance. It argues that the arrogance of mediocracy is more damaging than that of meritocracy. Italy experienced an economic miracle after the Second World War, and it is still an advanced economy and a member of the G7. Until the 1960s it seemed destined to catch up with the best-performing countries. Then the growth engine stopped, its debt skyrocketed, and Italy became a weaker member of the Eurozone. Many other countries in the world have heavy historical legacies and low social capital, and many others have to make the jump from imitation led growth to endogenous growth. The lessons drawn from studying Italy's case can therefore have important international applications.

Italy, the Sheltered Economy
Italy, the Sheltered Economy

Author: Fiorella Padoa-Schioppa

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13:

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This volume describes in considerable detail the structural features of the Italian economy. It is based on the results of a major three-year project analysing the Italian economy, and its primary focus is on the role of state and private economic agents.Italy has a huge and interventionist governmental economic policy: the state spends over 50% of National Income. Professor Padoa Schioppa Kastoris argues that much of this state action and regulation is irrational and counter-efficient. She then argues that the Italian economy is also characterizedby a large and efficient `black market', and that much of the private sector already evades the command and control imposed by the state. Since de facto deregulation therefore exists to a large extent in the Italian economy, Professor Padoa Schioppa Kastoris calls for legal deregulation andprivatization. She argues that a decrease in, and an altered character of, state action will enable the Italian economy to achieve higher rates of growth, and to reconcile the goals of efficiency and public interest.The book reflects a blend of theoretical and empirical work: although much data on the Italian economy is given in the book, the analysis is not technical.

Italy from Crisis to Crisis
Italy from Crisis to Crisis

Author: Matthew Evangelista

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-01

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1351586920

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Italy from Crisis to Crisis seeks to understand Italy’s approach to crises by studying the country in regional, international, and comparative context. Without assuming that the country is abnormal or unusually crisis-prone, the authors treat Italy as an example from which other countries might learn. The book integrates the analysis of domestic politics and foreign policy, including Italy’s approach to military interventions, energy security, economic relations with the European Union (EU), and to the NATO alliance, and covers a number of issues that normally receive little attention in studies of "high politics," such as information policy, national identity, immigration, youth unemployment, and family relations. Finally, it puts Italy in a comparative perspective – with other European states, naturally – but also with Latin America, and even the United States, all countries that have experienced similar crises to Italy’s and similar – often populist – responses. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of, and courses on, Italian politics and history, European politics and, more broadly, comparative politics and democracy.

The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy
The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy

Author: George Holmes

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 9780198205272

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Traces the history of Italy from the Roman Empire to the present, and examines the connections between Italian society, politics, and culture.

Twentieth Century Italy
Twentieth Century Italy

Author: Jonathan Dunnage

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-25

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 1317886909

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Following a historically chronological approach, and with a clear focus on the marked regional diversity characterising Italy, this volume analyses the impact of social, economic, cultural and political transformation on the lives of Italians. It assesses their living standards, their health and education, their working conditions and their leisure activities. The final part of the book examines contemporary Italian society in the light of the political and moral crisis of the early 1990s.

Italy, Europe, The Left
Italy, Europe, The Left

Author: Vassilis Fouskas

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-20

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0429836686

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Published in 1998. Was the Italian Communist Party (PCI) a typical Social Democratic party in tune with the programmatic principles of the Second International? What is the appropriate context within which the strategies of 'historic compromise' and Eurocommunism in the 1970s can be analyzed and understood? In what form and to what extent has the process of European integration and the crisis of Keynesianism contributed to the transformation of the party in 1989-91? What caused the collapse of the ruling political class of the First Italian Republic? Why did the transformed PCI, the PDS (Democratic Party of the Left), fail to lead the transition to the Second Italian Republic between 1992 and 1996? Is there any link between the party’s historical factions and the current divisions in the Italian Left? Is it possible to theorize and speculate upon these divisions? Italy, Europe, the Left seeks to answer these questions, debating conventional views and examining the extent to which the end of the Cold War has contributed to a redefinition of the Left’s identity in Italy and Europe. The exemplary methodological framework and the wider European perspective adopted throughout, make the book an indispensable reading in the field of Italian and European politics.

Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy
Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy

Author: Mark Gilbert

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-10-01

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 1538102544

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Italy is a country that exercises a hold on the imagination of people all over the world. Its long history has left an inexhaustible treasure chest of cultural achievement: Historic cities such as Rome, Florence, and Venice are among the most sought-after destinations in the world for tourists and art lovers. Italy's natural beauty and cuisine are rightly renowned. It’s history and politics are also a source of endless fascination. Modern Italy has consistently been a political laboratory for the rest of Europe. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country’s politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Italy.

The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification
The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification

Author: Gianni Toniolo

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-01-04

Total Pages: 802

ISBN-13: 0199936706

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This Oxford Handbook provides a fresh overall view and interpretation of the modern economic growth of one of the largest European countries, whose economic history is less known internationally than that of other comparably large and successful economies. It will provide, for the first time, a comprehensive, quantitative "new economic history" of Italy. The handbook offers an interpretation of the main successes and failures of the Italian economy at a macro level, the research--conducted by a large international team of scholars --contains entirely new quantitative results and interpretations, spanning the entire 150-year period since the unification of Italy, on a large number of issues. By providing a comprehensive view of the successes and failures of Italian firms, workers, and policy makers in responding to the challenges of the international business cycle, the book crucially shapes relevant questions on the reasons for the current unsatisfactory response of the Italian economy to the ongoing "second globalization." Most chapters of the handbook are co-authored by both an Italian and a foreign scholar.