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The legacies of two great civilizations--the Roman Empire and Renaissance city-states--are still apparent in today's Italian economy in its internationalization, strong regional cultures, tourism, and arts industries. Less appreciated is the country's status as continental Europe's second-largest industrial power, notwithstanding the disproportionate significance of SMEs in Italy. Vera Zamagni's survey of the Italian economy and its modern history outlines its unique shape and structure and how human factors explain its strengths in social networks, "niche capitalism," and well-being indicators, as well as its weaknesses reflected in regional imbalances, political instability, and recently in banking. Focusing on economic developments since 1945, Zamagni explains how the contemporary economy is the result of the contours of this longer history, of the country's geography--low on natural resources but blessed with good weather and shipping opportunities--and more recent factors such as the country's membership in the EU and the changing profile of Italian demography and the country's surprisingly measured response to the challenges of migration. Drawing upon both conventional and heterodox approaches, the book concludes with an assessment of the prospects for the Italian economy. The book provides a concise overview of value for students in politics, political economy, history, and economics and for professionals looking to understand the nature of recent Italian economic performance.
This Oxford Handbook provides a fresh overall view and interpretation of the modern economic growth of one of the largest European countries, whose economic history is less known internationally than that of other comparably large and successful economies. It will provide, for the first time, a comprehensive, quantitative "new economic history" of Italy. The handbook offers an interpretation of the main successes and failures of the Italian economy at a macro level, the research--conducted by a large international team of scholars --contains entirely new quantitative results and interpretations, spanning the entire 150-year period since the unification of Italy, on a large number of issues. By providing a comprehensive view of the successes and failures of Italian firms, workers, and policy makers in responding to the challenges of the international business cycle, the book crucially shapes relevant questions on the reasons for the current unsatisfactory response of the Italian economy to the ongoing "second globalization." Most chapters of the handbook are co-authored by both an Italian and a foreign scholar.
First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
A brief, up-to-date account of Italy's transformation from an agrarian state to an industrial powerhouse.
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.
The Economic History of Italy 1860-1990 gives a scholarly and authoritative account of Italy's progress from a rural economy to an industrialized nation, covering in detail agriculture, trade, banking, public intervention, the standard of living, and education. It provides an interpretativeaccount of the economic history of Italy since unification and offers an extensive resource of quantitative data. Professor Zamagni argues that Italy only effectively became an industrialized nation after the Second World War, with the south still being clearly behind the rest of the country. Her argument makes use of both macroeconomic approaches, in looking at the growth of income, investment, consumption,trade, and the role of the state, and microeconomic approaches, drawing conclusions from the history of individual banks and corporations. Italy's movement from peripheral status in Europe to a central position as a prosperous country was achieved through a remarkable flexibility in adapting newtechnology and new institutions.
Drawing on a wide range of literature and adopting a macroeconomic approach, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the Italian economy during the Renaissance, focusing on the period between 1348, the year of the Black Death, and 1630. The Italian Renaissance played a crucial role in the formation of the modern world, with developments in culture, art, politics, philosophy, and science sitting alongside, and overlapping with, significant changes in production, forms of organization, trades, finance, agriculture, and population. Yet, it is usually argued that splendour in culture coexisted with economic depression and that the modernity of Renaissance culture coincided with an epoch of epidemics, famines, economic crisis, poverty, and destitution. This book examines both faces of the Italian economy during the Renaissance, showing that capital per worker was plentiful and productive capacity and incomes were relatively high. The endemic presence of the plague, curbing population growth, played an important role in this. It is also shown that the organization of production in industry and finance, consumerism, human capital, and mercantile rationality were the forerunners of modern-day capitalism. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the Renaissance and Italian economic history.
Présentation de l'éditeur : "Vera Zamagni charts the remarkable story of European economic growth from the birth of industrialization through to the present day. Setting European events within the wider context of world economic progress and alongside developments in Asia, Eastern Europe and the United States, she provides an up-to-date and authoritative survey suitable for course use. The book begins with an outline of the economic landscape of the late Middle Ages before exploring the process of European industrialization, including how the British model was replicated across Europe, and why Britain was unable to maintain its position relative to other economies, in particular the United States. The advent of global finance is examined and the economic impact of world war and revolution is assessed. European reconstruction and integration is analysed alongside the decline of Russia and the growth of the Asian economies. The book ends with an assessment of the impact of the global crash of 2008 and the subsequent crisis of the Eurozone. Throughout her analysis, Zamagni shows how the social and economic institutions and values of European civilization catalyzed economic progress. That these same structures are now threatened makes this history particularly timely."
Winner, 2010 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize, the Renaissance Society of America2009 Outstanding Academic Title, ChoiceHonorable Mention, Economics, 2009 PROSE Awards, Professional and Scholarly Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers Richard A. Goldthwaite, a leading economic historian of the Italian Renaissance, has spent his career studying the Florentine economy. In this magisterial work, Goldthwaite brings together a lifetime of research and insight on the subject, clarifying and explaining the complex workings of Florence’s commercial, banking, and artisan sectors. Florence was one of the most industrialized cities in medieval Europe, thanks to its thriving textile industries. The importation of raw materials and the exportation of finished cloth necessitated the creation of commercial and banking practices that extended far beyond Florence’s boundaries. Part I situates Florence within this wider international context and describes the commercial and banking networks through which the city's merchant-bankers operated. Part II focuses on the urban economy of Florence itself, including various industries, merchants, artisans, and investors. It also evaluates the role of government in the economy, the relationship of the urban economy to the region, and the distribution of wealth throughout the society. While political, social, and cultural histories of Florence abound, none focuses solely on the economic history of the city. The Economy of Renaissance Florence offers both a systematic description of the city's major economic activities and a comprehensive overview of its economic development from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance to 1600.
In this, the first comprehensive survey of the economies of classical antiquity, twenty-eight chapters summarise the current state of scholarship in their specialised fields and sketch new directions for research. They reflect a new interest in economic growth in antiquity and develop new methods for measuring economic development, often combining textual and archaeological data that have previously been treated separately.