IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/usi/wpaper/698.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Discovering the dark heart of Italian capitalism: a perspective from Supreme Court legal cases and business consultants’ analyses (1950s-1970s)

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo DI Martino
  • Michelangelo Vasta

Abstract

This paper analyses the structure of Italian capitalism during the post-WWII economic miracle by focusing on the governance and management of small and medium firms. Using innovative sources, the paper shows that poorly conceived and/or enforced laws and legislation created incentive for business owners to be stockholders rather than stakeholders of their firms. This attitude emerges in two areas. Firstly, Italian business owners adopted structures of governance aimed only at protecting insiders, often at the expense of firms’ development. Secondly, in Italy business consultants had a unique and wide role in the management of firms, and acted to protect the benefits of insiders rather than the interests of the company. These two issues also contribute to explain the well-known problem of the dwarfism of Italian firms and the scarce capacity to innovate.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo DI Martino & Michelangelo Vasta, 2014. "Discovering the dark heart of Italian capitalism: a perspective from Supreme Court legal cases and business consultants’ analyses (1950s-1970s)," Department of Economics University of Siena 698, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    • Handle: RePEc:usi:wpaper:698
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.deps.unisi.it/quaderni/698.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Friedrich Schneider & Dominik Enste, 1999. "Shadow Economies Around the World - Size, Causes, and Consequences," CESifo Working Paper Series 196, CESifo.
    2. Emanuele Felice & Giovanni Vecchi, 2012. "Italy’s Modern Economic Growth, 1861-2011," Department of Economics University of Siena 663, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    3. repec:bdi:workqs:qse_7 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Alessandro Nuvolari & Michelangelo Vasta, 2012. "The Ghost in the Attic? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective, 1861-2011," Department of Economics University of Siena 665, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    5. Alexander Dyck & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "Private Benefits of Control: An International Comparison," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 537-600, April.
    6. Zingales, Luigi, 1994. "The Value of the Voting Right: A Study of the Milan Stock Exchange Experience," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 125-148.
    7. Colli, Andrea & Rinaldi, Alberto, 2015. "Institutions, Politics, and the Corporate Economy," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 249-269, June.
    8. Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco & Bianco, Magda, 2005. "Courts and Banks: Effects of Judicial Enforcement on Credit Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 223-244, April.
    9. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2008. "The law and economics of self-dealing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 430-465, June.
    10. Lubinski, Christina, 2011. "Path Dependency and Governance in German Family Firms," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(4), pages 699-724, January.
    11. Andrea Colli & Michelangelo Vasta (ed.), 2010. "Forms of Enterprise in 20th Century Italy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12795.
    12. Bart van Ark & Erik Monnikhof, 1996. "Size Distribution of Output and Employment: A Data Set for Manufacturing Industries in Five OECD Countries, 1960s-1990," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 166, OECD Publishing.
    13. Dominik H. Enste & Friedrich Schneider, 2000. "Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 77-114, March.
    14. Nuvolari, Alessandro & Vasta, Michelangelo, 2015. "The Ghost in the Attic? The Italian National Innovation System in Historical Perspective, 1861–2011," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 270-290, June.
    15. Giuseppe Maria Longoni & Alberto Rinaldi, 2010. "Industrial Policy and Artisan Firms (1930s–1970s)," Chapters, in: Andrea Colli & Michelangelo Vasta (ed.), Forms of Enterprise in 20th Century Italy, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paolo Di Martino & Michelangelo Vasta, 2012. "Happy 150th Birthday Italy? Institutions and Economic Performance Since 1861," Department of Economics University of Siena 662, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    2. Gur Aminadav & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Corporate Control around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1191-1246, June.
    3. Lesmeister, Simon & Limbach, Peter & Goergen, Marc, 2022. "Trust and monitoring," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Colli, Andrea & Rinaldi, Alberto, 2015. "Institutions, Politics, and the Corporate Economy," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 249-269, June.
    5. Giombini, Germana & Teobaldelli, Désirée & Schneider, Friedrich, 2018. "Interaction effect of tax evasion and legal system inefficiency on firms' financial constraints," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Capasso, Salvatore & Jappelli, Tullio, 2013. "Financial development and the underground economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 167-178.
    7. Jiang, Guohua & Lee, Charles M.C. & Yue, Heng, 2010. "Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-20, October.
    8. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5922 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Julien Le Maux & Claude Francoeur, 2014. "Block Premia, Litigation Risk, and Shareholder Protection," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(4), pages 756-769, September.
    10. Jiang, Guohua & Rao, Pingui & Yue, Heng, 2015. "Tunneling through Non-Operational Fund Occupancy: An investigation based on officially identified activities," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 295-311.
    11. Domini, Giacomo, 2015. "The innovation-trade nexus: Italy in historical perspective (1861-1939)," MERIT Working Papers 2015-055, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Nenova, Tatiana, 2006. "Takeover laws and financial development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4029, The World Bank.
    13. Bennedsen, Morten & Nielsen, Kasper Meisner, 2010. "Incentive and entrenchment effects in European ownership," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2212-2229, September.
    14. Thomas Poulsen, 2013. "Corporate control and underinvestment," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(1), pages 131-155, February.
    15. Hu, Yi & Wang, Changyun & Xiao, Gang & Zeng, Jianyu, 2020. "The agency cost of political connections: Evidence from China's File 18," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Imamoglu, Hatice, 2017. "Estimating the roles of financial sector development and international trade openness in underground economies: Evidence from the European Union," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-50, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. D'Souza, Juliet & Nash, Robert, 2017. "Private benefits of public control: Evidence of political and economic benefits of state ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 232-247.
    18. Germana Giombini & D?sir?e Teobaldelli, 2012. "The effects of tax evasion and the inefficiency of the legal system on firms? financial constraints: are they complements or substitutes?," Working Papers 1207, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2012.
    19. Berlinger, Edina & Lilla Keresztúri, Judit & Lublóy, Ágnes & Vőneki Tamásné, Zsuzsanna, 2022. "Press freedom and operational losses: The monitoring role of the media," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    20. Matteo Bugamelli & Francesca Lotti & Monica Amici & Emanuela Ciapanna & Fabrizio Colonna & Francesco D�Amuri & Silvia Giacomelli & Andrea Linarello & Francesco Manaresi & Giuliana Palumbo & Filippo , 2018. "Productivity growth in Italy: a tale of a slow-motion change," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 422, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    21. Alessandro Nuvolari & Pier Angelo Toninelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2018. "What makes a successful (and famous) entrepreneur? Historical evidence from Italy (XIX-XX centuries)," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(3), pages 425-447.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:usi:wpaper:698. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabrizio Becatti (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desieit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.