Business

A General Overview of The Italian Economy

After World War II the Italian economy has progressed from being one of the weakest economies in Europe to being one of the most stable and powerful ones. The metallurgic and engineering industries represent its major strengths while the weaknesses come from the lack of primary materials and energy sources (more than 80 percent of Italy’s energy requirements are imported). A strong entrepreneurial bias combined with liberal trade policies since the war, enabled manufacturing exports to expand at a phenomenal rate, but an unmanageable bureaucracy and insufficient planning have hindered an even economic development throughout the country.

Although the Italian economy was a latecomer to the industrialisation process, the north has managed to catch up and overtake many Western Europe neighbours. However the south has lagged behind. The percentage of the labour force working in agriculture is often taken as an indication of the rate of industrialisation and wealth of a nation, and in Italy’s case the figures clearly illustrate the grave imbalance between the north and the south. Against an EC average of 9.6 per cent in 1990, Lombardy compared favourably with only 3.5 per cent of the population working on the land, while in Molise 26.2 per cent were still engaged in agricultural work. In Basilicata and Calabria the percentages were only slightly lower, at 22.3 and 21.2 per cent respectively.