| The major reason in Italy is enormous fragmentation of capital. We lost most big concentrations in the years following the 1970s crisis because the direction the post-crisis restructuration took has been towards very small enterprises and not the consolidation of big groups.
Reasons for this are complex, but I would call as the two most important 1. the way the urbanisation process during Les Trente Glorieuses didn't push people into working for big companies as much as in other European countries, leaving more room for small companies in later years (there are also historical reasons for this unusually stronger weight of small capital, of course, which go long back to the past); 2. how the political cadres didn't have enough, basically, courage, to push for the consolidation of bigger companies, if not in a way that amounted to stitching some smaller low-productivity companies together - pushing for an increased industrial productivity would have meant that many smaller enterprises would have gone out of business, that would have meant the loss of MANY votes from those social groups! Excuse me if I say something controversial, but just read up on the Reggio Calabria riots in 1970, especially the afternath. The 1980s have been characterised by the widespread diffusion of the SME model (the meme was "piccolo รจ bello" - small is beautiful), also with remarkable examples like Veneto which saw a real facelift, turning from a somewhat still rural region into the homeland of the "capannone" (the small industrial shed) in little less than 10 years!
Personally I think that all of this has been a major mistake, but maybe unavoidable due to the social structure and history of the country. But in all of this, consider also that northern Italy is basically Europe's second most important industrial zone (we serve as component makers for the larger industries of northern Europe) So.. it is very complicated. |