Industrial Policy in Italy, 1945–90

331 Pages·1993·15.777 MB·English

by  Mario Baldassarri (eds.)

INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN ITALY, 1945-90
CENTRAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC THEORY AND POLICY
General Editor: Mario Baldassarri, Professor of Economics, University of Rome
'La Sapienza', Italy
This new series is a joint initiative between Macmillan and SIPI, the puplishing company
of Confindustria (the Confederation of Italian Industry), based on the book collection
MONOGRAHE RPE published by SIPI and originated from the new editorial pro
gramme of one of the oldest Italian journals of economics, the Rivista di Politica
Economica, founded in 1911. This series is intended to become an area inwhich the most
topical economic problems are freely debated and confronted with different scientific
orientations and /or political theories.
The 1990s clearly represent a transition period in which the world economy will
establish new international relationships and in this context, new challenges and new
risks will have to be faced within each economic system. Fundamental issues on which
economic theory and policy have long based their reasoning over the last two or three
decades have to be critically reviewed in order to pursue new frontiers for theoretical
development and economic policy implementation. In this sense, this new series aims
at being a "place of debate" between professional economists, an updated learning tool
for students and a specific reference for a wider readership aiming at understanding
economic theory and policy evolution even from a non-specialist point of view.
Published
Mario Baldassarri (editor)
KEYNES AND THE ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE 1980s
Mario Baldassarri (editor)
INDUSTRIAL POLICYIN ITALY, 1945-90
Mario Baldassarri (editor)
OLIGOPOLY AND DYNAMIC COMPETITION
Mario Baldassarri, John McCallum and Robert Mundell (editors)
DEBT, DEFICIT AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
Mario Baldassarri, John McCallum and Robert Mundell (editors)
GLOBAL DISEQUILIBRIUM IN THE WORLD ECONOMY
Mario Baldassarri and Robert Mundell (editors)
BUILDING THE NEW EUROPE
VOLUME 1: THE SINGLE MARKET AND MONETARY UNIFICATION
VOLUME 2: EASTERN EUROPE'S TRANSITIONTO A MARKET ECONOMY
Mario Baldassarri, LuigiP aganettoan d Edmund S. Phelps (editors)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE,
PATTERNS OF TRADE BALANCES AND ECONOMIC POLICY
COORDINATION
Mario Baldassarri, Luigi Paganetto and Edmund S. Phelps (editors)
WORLD SAVING, PROSPERITY AND GROWTH
Industrial Policy in Italy,
1945-90
Edited by
Mario Baldassarri
Professor of Economics
University of Rome 'La Sapienza'
M
in association with
Palgrave Macmillan
St. Martin's Press
© SIPI Srl, Rivista di Politica Economica 1990, 1993
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
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First published in Great Britain 1993 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-22987-1 ISBN 978-1-349-22985-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22985-7
First published in the United States of America 1993 by
Scholarly and Reference Division,
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-08975-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Politica industriale in Italia dal '45 ad oggi. English
Industrial policy in Italy, 1945-90 / edited by Mario Baldassarri.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-312-08975-7
1. Industry and state-Italy-History-20th century.
2. Industrial promotion-Italy-History-20th century. 3. Italy-
-Economic policy. I. Baldassarri, Mario, 1946- . II. Title.
HD3616.I83P6513 1993 92-28595
CIP
Contents
Preface 1
PART I: SURVEYS
1 Macroeconomic Policies and Industrial 17
Policies
PippoRanci
2 Forty-Five Years of Industrial Policy in Italy: 31
Protagonists, Objectives and Instruments
Romano Prodi and Daniele De Giovanni
PART II: THREE LINKS
Private-Public Sectors:
3 Phases of Italian Industrial Development 59
and the Relationship between the Public
and Private Sectors
Fulvia Coltorti
4 Public Enterprises and Industrial Policies 125
Paolo Leon
Large-sized and Small Firms:
5 The Restructuring of Large-sized 141
Industrial Groups
Gian Maria Gras-Pietro
6 Industrial Policies for Small and Medium Firms and 161
the New Direction of European Community Policies
Patrizio Bianchi
North-South:
7 The Tortuous Road of Industry through the 189
Mezzogiomo
Mariano D'Antonio
8 Industrial Policies and Territorial Development in '237
Northern and Central Regions of Italy
Maurizio Tenenbaum
PART III: INNOVATION AND COMPETITNENESS
9 Industrial Policy and Technical Innovation(*) 301
Bruno Lamborghini and Cesare Sacchi
Index 329
Preface
During the last few decades, Italy's economic development has
been tumultuous and, in many ways, contradictory. Its main
features have been the growth and the coming of age of an
industrialsystemwhichisfirmlyrankedamongthefirstfiveorsix
most industrialized countries in theworld,and which, despite the
riskandthedifficultiesinvolved,hasalwaysbeenthecomerstone
of the nation's economy. In short, it was during these years that
Italy became a strong and modem industrial economy.
It will therefore be interesting to reexamine some of the key
aspects of this development, not only to gain insight into the 'great
race' and the successes of this period, but also to note the errors,
limitations, problems, and defeats. This will enable us to better
define the 'strategic position' of Italian industry and industrial
policy, or the possibilities and the risks in store at the beginning of
the 1990s,a timeofradicalchange. Within an international context
of economic and financial integration, increased competitivity
abroad and industrial specialization present both opportunity
and risk, in the form of new prospects arising from changes in
East-Westrelations,andintheformofgrowingcontrastbetween
the northern and southern hemispheres.
The creation of the single market in western Europe and the
integration with East European countries both provide positive
examples. However, an example of the dangers involved is the
1991 crisis in the Middle East which, though certainly fuelled by
the hegemonic aspirations of one regime, may nonetheless (or at
least, in part) be a signal of a widening discrepancy between
North and South.
In any modern industrial economy, it is always difficult to
evaluate the role and the impact of economic policy, or more
specifically,industrialpolicy,asaguideandastimulustoindustrial
development. Indeed, its primary role must be to influence the
decisionmaking and strategy of firms, and to make full use of the
2 Preface
capacity which exists within every industrial system. Although
economic and industrial policies can promote or stymie
decisionmaking processes, they are incapable of 'inventing' the
firm or industrial development on their own. As a consequence,
the interaction between industrial policy, economic policies and
development is difficult to define.
Theoretical debate in favour of macroeconomics or
microeconomics, economic policy or industrial policy,
interventionism or laissez-faire, controlling aggregate demand or
supply-side policies, by-sector or by-factor objectives, and
guaranteeing or differentiating the rules of the game has ebbed
and flowed, but has certainly not subsided.
Empirical evidence from the leading industrialized countries
reveals a vast array of experiences evolving over time within each
nation:amongthesearethe'compactness' ofGermanandJapanese
industry; the more sweeping changes of the English system,
French 'dirigisme', the American neo-free-enterprise, and the
'atypical' Italian situation, which is the subject of this monograph
and of the papers which follow.
This book is divided into three parts.
The first section outlines the theoretical frame of reference and
the empirical experiences of the Italian economy during the last
few decades. The volume begins with a paper by Pippo Rand,
Macroeconomic Policies and Industrial Policies, which introduces the
industrial policy 'issue', its role, its sphere of activity, and the
various combinations created in macroeconomic and
microeconomic scenarios. It is followed by a critical view of the
framework, the turning points, the major issues, the philosophy
and the approaches in connection in the study by Romano Prodi
and Daniele De Giovanni, Forty-Five Years of Industrial Policy in
Italy: Protagonists, Objectives, and Instruments.
The second section examines threefundamental'links' between
Italian economy, industry and industrial policy. Firstly, the public
and private sectors are analyzed in depth in the paper written by
Fulvio Coltorti, Phases of Italian Industrial Development and the
Preface 3
Relationship between the Public and Private Sectors and in a special
study by Paolo Leon, Public Enterprises and Industrial Policies.
Secondly, large-and small-sized firms are dealt with in papers
written by Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, The Restructuring of Large
Sized Industrial Groups, and by Patrizio Bianchi, Industrial Policies
for Small and Medium Firms and the New Direction of European
Community Policies.
Thirdly, the regional development gap becomes the subject of
study in The Tortuous Road of Industry through the Mezzogiorno, by
Mariano D'Antonio, and in Industrial Policies and Territorial
Development in Northern and Central Regions of Italy, by Maurizio
Tenenbaum.
A common denominator can be found among all of the
contributions in the first two sections: each work stresses the need
for industrial policy to focus primarily on two synergic and
interrelated objectives, innovation and competitivity. Major
developments in this process were achieved during the 1980s,
with the tumultuous beginnings of technological and
organizational innovation ina context of growing integration and
of international challenge. Moreover, innovation and the
competitive struggle moved out of the realm of individual firms
to encompass the entire economic and industrial system. The
innovation and competitivity of companies became a part of the
innovation and competitive survival of the system and of the
country as a whole.
The third section analyzes this message in the paper by Bruno
Lamborghini and Cesare Sacchi, Industrial Policy and Technological
Innovation. As in the other studies, the experiences of recent
decades are re-evaluated not only to 'understand' what actually
occurred but also to evaluate the Italian industrial system so as to
meet the challenges presented within the international economic
system and the Italian economy leading up to the year 2000.
Ofcourse,anintroductionisnosubstituteforthedetailedstudy
of each individual paper, and can hardly include all of their
nuances and results in a few lines. Nonetheless, an attempt to
identify and to link the basic messages of each work may have its