This Aspen Junior Fellows meeting and debate session got underway with the observation that the performance of the Italian economy was marked by a succession of dips and spikes up until the 1970s, a period when the country underwent a dramatic decline in its competitiveness. Certain large firms disappeared while others disintegrated. The country’s industrial base endured the emergence of a new technological paradigm (ICT), the spread of global value chains, and an opening-up to international markets. This situation was further exacerbated by two specific factors: an entrepreneurial culture that remains predominantly family-centric, together with the adverse climate – from a bureaucratic and social receptiveness standpoint – within which entrepreneurs operate, especially those in larger firms. The upshot is an industrial landscape characterized by many small enterprises and a not-so virtuous competitive dynamic. It was consequently felt that the difficulties afflicting the Italian economy can be attributed more to supply-side than demand-side problems.
With a view to addressing these issues, the discussions highlighted five key areas for intervention. Firstly, a more widespread cultivation and the reshaping of entrepreneurial culture were held up as fundamental to meeting the challenges of modernity and limiting the constraints associated with businesses being embedded locally. In addition, the development of overseas expansion programs were seen as potentially providing more virtuous firms with new growth trajectories, bringing benefits for the local economy. It was suggested that the role banks can play in galvanizing and nurturing higher-caliber firms should also not be underestimated. On the one hand, their expertise in assessing creditworthiness could enable banks to support businesses that have great potential but which are experiencing temporary difficulties. On the other hand, the banking system will also need to foster access for sturdier firms to new sources of non-bank finance.
In this regard, it was stressed that young people could serve as a key driver of change and innovation on the condition that the forward vision of leaders leaves room for them to play a role, despite the tensions created by the country’s demographic trends. Lastly, it was urged that Italy’s southern regions also need to be an important source of economic growth through the enhancement of the specific assets they possess. The proposals discussed in this respect included the development of tourism, boosting the hi-tech capacity of rural areas, the development of smart cities, and creating bridges between the expertise of Italians living abroad and the local population.
The areas for intervention identified were viewed as offering hope and prospects for the Italian economy, though it was conceded that more recent international political events give some cause for concern. Indeed, globalization and access to global value chains represent a major outlet for business growth through specialization and the development of specific expertise, yet if these phenomena were to come under challenge, the future could in some respects become uncertain.