Deindustrializzazione, finanza e crisi. Il rilancio del manifatturiero ed il ruolo dell'Italia, di Roberto Panizza, La Comunità Internazionale della Sioi, n.1, 2013

In this article, the author highlights the mistakes made by the major Western industrialized countries in dismantling their industrial and manufacturing sectors in favour of the expansion of the financial sector. The continuing concentration on financial operations, as a means to overcome the crisis that has hit Western capitalist system, is exacerbating the gap in performance between different national economies, to the benefit of those on the rise, such as China and India, with important differences in terms of growth rates and strength within international markets. The authors highlights not only the causes of the West’s industrial crisis, but also the strengths of different industrial systems, such as that of Italy, the features which could provide the right solution to the recession and its worst consequences, such as high unemployment and deteriorated standards of living. In this analysis of the Italian industrial system, the crucial role of districts as a winning factor emerges, because this can ensure innovation and openness to foreign markets, in response to the decline in output and domestic demand due to the marked decline in income. The author argues that in the face of a national emergency, it is necessary to work out a coherent industrial policy which responds to the real needs of the country, by focusing on the real strength of the Italian system. This means a fundamental shift away from the ever-increasing emphasis on the growth of the financial sector of the economy and a return to the expansion of industrial sector and manufacturing as strategic engines to recover from the global crisis.