Von der Autarkie zum Wirtschaftswunder: Wirtschaftspolitik und industrieller Wandel in Italien 1935–1963. By Rolf Petri. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2001. Pp. 534.

Abstract

Italy's transformation in little more than a century from a backward, agricultural periphery to one of the world's leading countries is one of economic history's success stories. Especially successful were the "economic miracle" years of 1950–1963, during which Italy maintained rates of growth second only to those of Japan and Germany and largely completed the structural transition to a modern, industrial economy. Rolf Petri argues that this success was built on a foundation laid in the 1930s and '40s by the fascist policy of autarchia. Autarchy policy identified and gave a decisive push to precisely those industries that proved most dynamic in the economic miracle. Employing a wide range of tools, from macroeconomic policy, through administrative control of foreign trade and the allocation of credit, to direct participation in the form of state-owned enterprises, the fascist regime created and nurtured firms, supported research and development activities, and encouraged investment in new physical plant and licensing of foreign technology. While the author eschews any statements about whether autarchia was necessary, good, or efficient and does not hide its shortcomings and failures, the flavor of this account is nonetheless positive. This contrasts with most other assessments, which have deemed autarchy policy contradictory and ad hoc, the cause of enormous waste and gross misallocation of resources.