Logica di un sistema di sostegno alle imprese. La politica industriale italiana dal secondo dopoguerra a "Industria 2015"

The logic of industrial policy in Italy from world war II to "Industria 2015" - The paper aims at discussing the logic lying behind sixty years of industrial policy in Italy. It is argued that during this time State intervention has been characterised by the issue of an increasing number of laws (mostly persisting over time) devoted to specific objectives, but at the same time paralleled by a tendency towards the reduction of their selectivity through the widening (i.e. the loosening) of the boundaries of the universe of firms they were thought for. Such a logic seems to have made way in recent years for a relatively new approach, as stated in the program "Industria 2015", which has put at the centre of the stage the need for limiting State aid to a selected group of (horizontally identified) industrial activities. The paper also discusses some apparent shortcomings of this approach, emphasising that a risk for a new weakening of its selective logic is still at work.