The Rise and Fall of the Italian Economy.CarloBastasin and GianniToniolo, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. pp. 211. 29 figs. 4 tabs. ISBN 9781009235310, Pbk. £22.99)
本书概述了意大利从1861年统一至今的经济轨迹，从相对落后到黄金时代的崛起，再到1990年代后的缓慢衰落，并探讨了政治与经济的互动关系。适合对意大利经济史感兴趣的读者。
The history of Italy is a fascinating one in several aspects. The process of political unification spanned several decades in the nineteenth century and intertwined with the trajectory of several other European countries. The complexity of the Italian economic unification did not fall short of its political unification in many respects: Italy has gone from being a relatively backward economy on the European periphery in 1861 to being one of the most dynamic ones during the Golden Age, until its maturity and slow decline from the 1990s onwards. The title of the volume by Carlo Bastasin and the late Gianni Toniolo well reflects the idea that the trajectory of the Italian economy, as many things in economic history, resembles an inverted U. The book represents a successful effort to provide a concise but self-contained overview of the Italian economy through its unification process, the convergence to the core from the 1890s up to the consolidation of the Italian economy as one of the largest in the post-war world, and finally, its slow decline. Bastasin and Toniolo provide an original perspective on each of these phases, connecting the economic and political history of the country exceptionally well. For the unification period, the authors show that the newly unified country struggled to establish its credibility among the other European powers for several years, delaying investment flows and compromising its ability to borrow. The book also contains a rather detailed description of the internal political issues delaying the catch-up growth phase until the 1890s: despite a relatively fast pace in the construction of the physical infrastructure, the creation of a unified national bureaucracy and of a national monetary and banking system was much slower. The educational system was also particularly slow to develop, failing to provide an important engine for growth. The authors make a very convincing connection between the deep pre-unitary fragmentation in all these aspects and the slow pace of the unified Italian State in reverting it. The book then proceeds with the description of the catch-up phase from the 1890s to Second World War, including the transformative years of the Fascist period. This is again seen through the eyes of both the economic and the political historian, discussing the various steps that have turned Italy's economy and society from market-oriented to corporativist (i.e. policies encouraging monopolies and cartels, protectionism, and heavy state intervention in the economy). The authors seem to be mostly interested in explaining the ‘fall’ in the ‘Rise and Fall of the Italian Economy’. They devote much attention to the lack of political vision and responsibility during the Golden Age that allowed for the disproportionate expansion of public spending. This would eventually become unsustainable during the global economic crisis of the 1970s and the political crisis of the early 1990s. Excessive spending and the lack of reforms are seen as the causes of the missed modernization of both the economy and society, and the political class is to blame. The book also provides an extensive discussion on the consequences of the 1992 political and economic crisis, showing how it represented a fundamental turning point for the country, negatively affecting the relationship between citizens and the State and undermining the financial credibility of the country. The book provides a final chapter discussing the period between the Great Recession (2008–9) and the near default of 2011–2, ending with an analysis of the reforms of the Monti government and how these were able to avoid the most serious consequences but not the slow decline that has persisted for more than three decades. The case of the Italian economy should be of interest to a general audience, as it often anticipates trajectories and challenges that materialize in other advanced economies: the emergence of a Fascist regime, the unbalanced regional development, the rise in public debt as a result of shortsighted political choices, and the populist response to economic decline. The Rise and Fall of the Italian Economy provides a novel and interdisciplinary perspective on all these issues and represents an excellent introductory book for those interested in a broad and compelling long-run picture of one of the (so far) largest economies in the world.