Introduzione. Ripensare il declino
Maurizio Franzini, Anna Giunta
Italy’s economic decline: a reassessment
Our article serves both as an Introduction to this monographic issue on
Italy’s economic decline and as a reassessment of some economic and institutional
questions which have been raised in Italy’s economic decline debate. In particular,
we argue that the total factor productivity slowdown of the last ten years is mainly
caused by Italian industry fragmentation and by its peculiar specialization
model in traditional sectors. Both these two characteristics have, in turn, caused a
low adoption of information and communication technologies. On the institutional
side, we underline that too much attention is usually devoted just to the
amount of financial resources needed, whereas, according to our view, policies
should be more concerned with the «complementary conditions» which raise the
probability of intervention success. Finally, this article questions the lack of attention
in the debate paid to the North-South gap, arguing that the «Mezzogiorno»
could play a crucial role in the future Italian growth dynamics.
Mettetevi nei miei panni
Antonio Pascale
Lo sviluppo scientifico italiano nell'ultimo sessantennio: due modelli a confronto
Giovanni Paoloni
Research and innovation in Italy in the past sixty years:
a comparison between two models
This paper starts from the observation that the origin of Italian economic
structural problems go back to the 1960’s when the favourable conditions which
allowed the so called «Italian miracle», first of all that of being a latecomer, faded
away. To face the challenge of being a modern industrial economy, Italy needed
an effective and integrated research system that, actually, was never established.
The paper reconstructs the main episodes in the disappointing history of Italian
research and innovation and points to the responsibilities both of entrepreneurs
and government as well as of some structural factors that shaped their choices and
behaviour.
Il declino economico dell'Italia: i termini del dibattito
Luciano Marcello Milone
Italy’s economic decline: a review of the debate
An increasing number of scholars tend to interpret the weak performance of
the Italian economy as a consequence of structural decline, in particular since the
early 1990s. This view is supported by adverse trends in a wide range of indicators:
real per capita GDP, labour productivity, total factor productivity and international
competitiveness measured by both net exports and foreign direct investments.
The major structural weaknesses that have been identified in the Italian
economy feature: low research and development activity, weak innovative
capacity, a human capital gap relative to other industrial countries, an excessive
number of small-size firms, rigidities in the labour market, various inefficiencies
of financial markets, low competitive pressures owing to heavily regulated product
markets, inadequacy of public infrastructures, poor quality of certain public
institutions. There is a broad consensus that a sustained growth strategy requires
a set of structural reforms, both of product, labour and financial markets and of
the public institutional setting. Nevertheless, for a number of reasons considered
in this paper, the implementation of such a reform program appears to be slow
and difficult.
A proposito di declino: la questione del capitale umano
Michele Raitano, Stefano Supino
Italy’s economic decline: the role of the human capital
The limited number of graduated – a proxy of the human capital accumulation
– is usually considered having a main role in explaining the slow-down of the
Italian economy and its main peculiarities (i.e. a manufacturing system with a
very high share of small firms specialized in traditional sectors with a low ICT
diffusion of the information and communication technology). In this essay we argue
that it may be over-simplistic to focus only on the skilled workers supply
side. Therefore we propose to analyse also the opposite link, i.e. the demand of
such workers from the productive system. Presenting many data on the human
capital diffusion in Italy and on its effective utilization by firms, we try to settle
the controversy between the role played by demand and supply factors in determining
the human capital accumulation in the Italian economic system.
Abbiamo bisogno di un sistema scolastico decentralizzato? Aspetti socio-economici della devoluzione in Italia
Massimo Giannini
Do we need a decentralized school system?
Social and economic aspects of Italian devolution
The article focuses on the socio-economic effects relate to a shifting from a
national to a local funding system for schooling in Italy. While benefits of such a
shift are rather fuzzy, the article shows that negative effects could be rather heavy
in terms of a rising in inequality across local school districts.
Le politiche per la ricerca e per l'innovazione: i nodi da sciogliere, al di là della retorica
Paolo Saracco
Research and innovation policy measures: what are the real knots?
The lack of innovation is the peculiar feature distinguishing Italy from other
developed countries: this should be the starting point for any well-grounded
analysis of national policies aimed at research and innovation and recovering this
gap should be their main goal. In this article Italian industrial policies are criticized
and some alternative scenarios of intervention are proposed.
Il rapporto tra università e imprese negli Stati Uniti: trasferimento tecnologico e diritti di proprietà intellettuale
David C. Mowery
University-Industry collaboration in the United States:
technology transfer and intellectual property rights
University-industry research collaboration and technology transfer, especially
the licensing by U.S. universities of patented inventions, is considered by many
authors as a central «cause» of U.S. economic resurgence in the 1990’s. Such development
are, in turn, attributed to changes in U.S. policy during the 1980’s, particularly
the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. This paper argues that the focus on patenting
and licensing as the essential ingredient in university-industry collaboration
and knowledge transfer may be exaggerated. It is a fallacy to associate the entrepreneurial
activities of universities exclusively with patenting and licensing. The
emphasis on the Bayh-Dole Act also seems somewhat misplaced, ignoring the
long history, extending at the earliest decade of the 20th century, of collaboration
between university and industry.
Verso un nuovo modello di sviluppo sostenibile: distretti culturali e aree urbane
Pier Luigi Sacco, Giorgio Tavano Blessi
A new model of sustainable development: cultural districts and urban areas
This paper attempts to illustrate a strategic framework for cultural panning at
the local level. Local development cultural-led models have became very important
for those interested in assessing the long-run impact of systematic cultural
policies. This paper reviews the latest literature on cultural districts and illustrated
two case studies by which will be possible to highlight the role played by culture
as catalyst for major economic and social renewal. By «cultural district» authors
mean an emergent, self-organized model of cultural supply that displays
significant strategic complementarities with other production chains with a typical
post-industrial characterization, e.g. in terms of high value added generated
by the accumulation of intangible assets such as human, social and cultural/symbolic
capital.
I corleonesi e la storia della mafia. Successo, radicamento e continuità
Marzia Andretta
The Corleonesis and the mafia history
This article focuses on the history of the Corleonese mafia. The strong influence
of the Corleonese group on the Palermitan mafia in the last years of the last
century shows how useful is such historical reconstruction. The analysis draws
on the first documents, dated since 1893, that certify the presence of the mafia in
Corleone. This article underlines the capacity of the mafia to regenerate itself, not
only in Corleone. On the one hand, the link between the Palermitan mafia and
the Corleonese mafia reveals the continuity of the mafia’s phenomenon. On the
other hand, my empirical research contrasts the largely accepted hypothesis according
to which the Corleonese mafia is basically a countryside closed system.
Declinando la realtà
Gino Ventriglia
Cronache dall'interno del vertice del Pci: due letture - Uno spiraglio di personale libertà
Aldo Agosti