Ripensare il declino

Our article serves both as an Introduction to this monographic issue on Italy’s economic decline and as a reassessment of some economic and institutional questions which have been raised in Italy’s economic decline debate. In particular, we argue that the total factor productivity slowdown of the last ten years is mainly caused by Italian industry fragmentation and by its peculiar specialization model in traditional sectors. Both these two characteristics have, in turn, caused a low adoption of information and communication technologies. On the institutional side, we underline that too much attention is usually devoted just to the amount of financial resources needed, whereas, according to our view, policies should be more concerned with the “complementary conditions” which raise the probability of intervention success. Finally, this article questions the lack of attention in the debate paid to the North-South gap, arguing that the “Mezzogiorno” could play a crucial role in the future Italian growth dynamics.