Damiano Bruno Silipo In the 1990s the Italian banking system underwent profound normative, institutional and structural changes. The Consolidated Law on Banking (1993) and that on Finance (1998) instituted the legal framework for a far-reaching overhaul of the Italian banking and ?nancial system: signi?cant relaxation of entry barriers, the liberalization of branching, the privatization of the Italian banks, and a massive process of mergers and acquisitions. Following the Bank of Italy’s liberalization of branching in 1990, in 10 years the number of bank branches increased by 70% in Italy, while in the rest of Europe it declined. Over the decade the average number of banks doing business in a province rose from 27 to 31, while a wave of mergers (324 operations) and acquisitions (137) revolutionized the Italian banking industry, reducing the overall number of Italian banks by 30%. To a signi?cant extent this concentration represented take-overs of troubled Southern banks by Central and Northern ones. As a result of these developments (plus a rise in banking productivity and a fall in costs), the spread between short-term lending and deposit rates fell from 7 percentage points in 1990 to 4 points in 1999. And despite an increase in concentration in a number of local credit markets, the interest-rate differential between the locally dominant and other banks generally narrowed.

The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification provides, for the first time, a comprehensive, quantitative "new economic history" of Italy.

Carlo Bastasin and Gianni Toniolo provide a much-needed, up-to-date economic history of Italy from unification in 1861 to the present day. They show how, thirty years after unification, Italy began a long phase of convergence with more advanced economies so that by the late twentieth century Italy's per capita income reached the levels of Germany, France and the UK. From the mid-1990s, however, the Italian economy declined first in relative and then absolute terms. The authors describe the intertwined financial and institutional crises that eroded trust in the political system and in the economy at the exact juncture when new technologies and markets transformed the global economy. Longstanding problems of uneven levels of education and obsolete bureaucratic and judicial practices deepened the division between economically vibrant regions and the rest, causing polarization, political instability and rising public debt. Italy's contemporary malaise makes the country a test-case for understanding the implications of protracted declines in productivity and the flattening of GDP growth for the stability of western democracies, resulting in populism, mistrust and political instability.

This book provides the non-Italian scholar with an extensive picture of the development of Italian economics, from the Sixteenth century to the present. The thread of the narrative is the dialectics between economic theory and political action, where the former attempts to enlighten the latter, but at the same time receives from politics the main stimulus to enlarge its field of reflection. This is particularly clear during the Enlightenment. Inside, this book insists on stressing that Galiani, Verri, and Beccaria were economists quite sensitive to practical issues, but who also were willing to attain generally valid conclusions. In this sense, "pure economics" was never performed in Italy. Even Pareto used economics (and sociology) in order to interpret and possibly steer the course of political action. Within this book it illustrates the Restoration period (1815-48). There was a slowdown of the economists' engagement, due to an adverse political situation, that prompted the economists to prefer less dangerous subjects, such as the relationship between economics, morals, and law (the main interpreter of this attitude was Romagnosi). After 1848, however, in parallel with the Risorgimento cultural climate, a new vision of the economists' task was eventually manifested. Between economics and political Liberalism a sort of alliance was established, whose prophet was F. Ferrara. While the Historical school of economics of German origin played a minor role, Pure Economics (1890-1940 approx.) had a considerable success, as regards both economic equilibrium and the theory of public finance. Consequently, the introduction of Keynes's ideas was rather troubled. Instead, Hayek had an immediate success. This book concludes with a chapter devoted to the intense relationships between economic theories, economic programmes and political action after 1945. Here, the Sraffa debate played an important role in stimulating Italian economists to a reflection on the patterns of Italian economy and the possibilities of transforming Italy's economic and social structure.

Since the early 1970s the Italian economy has been moving towards an irreversible real and financial crisis. Paradoxically, the conditions engendered by the currency crisis and recession may also provide the basis for a new economic policy strategy, which could lead to built a mere 'economic miracle!'

The Italian economy has been one of the most turbulent in Europe. Its growth rates have consistently been amongst the highest in the European Community, but concerns about underlying structural weaknesses were highlighted by its ignominious departure from the ERM. Since then, despite continuing political upheavals, the performance of the real economy has been buoyant. The Italian Economy in the 1990's presents an authoritative and up-to-date account of one of Europe's major economies as we reach the middle of the decade. Rich in data, it provides analysis of: *Italy's economic performance *the labour market *public debt *privatisation.

This title was first published in 2003. Most of the essays collected in this volume are the revised versions of the reports presented at a conference held at the University of Tokyo in October 2001, organised as part of the initiatives of the "Italian Year" in Japan, and supported by the Foundation Italy in Japan 2001, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo, the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Higher Education, and the University of Tokyo. The essays, which aim at a fact-based presentation, provide a thorough survey of the relevant problems and aspects of present-day Italian economy and society. Those peculiar features of the Italian economy, such as its dualistic industrial structure and territorial divide, are analysed at length, with an eye to open policy options. The economic analyses are complemented by presentations of some of the central topics on the Italian social framework, such as the role of family and the "Third Sector".

A brief, up-to-date account of Italy's transformation from an agrarian state to an industrial powerhouse.