The historical sources of the Italian crisis^[1]

The Italian economic crisis has global as well as domestic roots. As Italy depends on industrial exports, the country has been deeply affected by the global crisis, and even more so by the depressive results of the EU’s austerity measures^[2].

Mario Monti’s technocratic government has also added to depressive austerity: the Italian internal market shows a negative growth, below -2% in 2013, adding to Italy’s need for exports.

Italy was one the fastest growing industrialised European countries between 1950 and 1990, performing better than Germany^[3]. This was partly due to its newcomer identity characterised by low wages which helped competitiveness at the beginning of this period. The economic landscape was further marked by the presence of a few major enterprises (including Fiat, Pirelli, Olivetti) and big state-owned enterprises (Ansaldo-Breda, Fincantieri, Eni, Enel, etc.). Large companies provided long-term investment and innovation, facilitating the emergence of plenty of successful Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)^[4] in the so-called “third Italy”. The success of SMEs was founded on their embeddedness in a dynamic economy dominated by large firms, whose investment in research and technology also benefited SMEs.

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Written by Paolo Borioni, Ph.D., a historian who works for the Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and collaborates with the Center for Nordic Studies, Helsinki. His main fields of research are the welfare state, Nordic history, and social democracy.

Published by Global Labour Column and edited by CSID at Wits University.