The Italian economy: growth factors and bottlenecks

Abstract

The article provides a broad survey of the Italian economy, pointing to some of the historical factors, to its characteristic features at the present time, and to problems of development. The author describes his purpose as one not of offering a description of Italian economic history, but of stressing factors in the Italian experience which are relevant to the problem of economic growth seen in general terms. The analysis of the Italian case presents special difficulties in so far as the progress of the Italian economy cannot be traced to a few easily individualised and spectacular factors, but appears rather to be the result of an intricate series of contrasting elements. The last part of the article considers the process of development in the Italian economy in the post-war period, dealing especially with the problems of the deficit in the balance of payments, and of the attempt to pursue a systematic investment policy aimed at accelerating the growth of national income, diminishing the structural disequilibria between North and South, and absorbing the unemployed.

JEL: F32, O11, O52