The Political Economy of Italy's Decline

Andrea Lorenzo Capussela received a PhD in international law with a thesis concerning competition policy. After some years in the private sector, he served as the head of the economics unit of Kosovo's international supervisor, the International Civilian Office, in 2008-11, and then as the adviser to Moldova's minister of economy and deputy prime minister, on behalf of the EU. He is the author of State-Building in Kosovo: Democracy, Corruption, and the EU in the Balkans.

1: Introduction: Italy's decline, the existing interpretations, and our hypothesis
2: The conceptual framework: growth, institutions, and social orders
3: The conceptual framework: collective action, trust, culture, and ideas
4: Vicious circles and multiple equilibria: the spiral
5: Italy's social order between unification and Fascism
6: The formation of the republican institutions
7: The 'economic miracle' and an ambitious reform programme
8: Continuity and instability: the spiral sets in
9: The last four decades: the spiral unperturbed, halted, resumed
10: Conclusions