Figure 1.- Agrigento is a city on the southern coast of Sicily with an amazing history. The city was founded by the Greeks (6th century BC) ad was a prosperous city for centuries though the Roman Republic. Here we see scene from the downtown center (July 21, 1979). The Italian Economic Miracle launched at the end of World War II made huge differences in Italy, brining Italy in the European economic mainstream and reduce the ecomic gsp. Even so we still see scenes like this, mostly in southern Italy (1970s). Note the boys are not barefoot, something you old hve seen earlier. But a boy from the outskirts of the city has boight the fmoly burro into the city to sell something. Many rurl families did not yet have motor vhicves to sell their crops. And not all young people were in school where they belonged.

The post-World War II Italian Economic Miracle unification Italy continued into the 1970s and 80s. We still see scenes mostly in southern Italy reflecting the eary backward economic condition, but this had largely disappeared by the 80. Italy continuied the convergence with more advanced economies of Western Europe. Italians achieved per capita income levels comparable to the other major European countries, Britain, and France. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the economy experienced a decline, including financial and institutional crises that began to eroded public trust in the political system. Long-standing issues such as uneven education levels and outdated bureaucratic practices were factors in deepening divisions between economically vibrant areas and exacerbating historic regional disparities. We see political instability and rising debt levels. 【Bastasin and Toniolo】 The developing malaise of Italy reflected protracted declines in productivity and flattening of GDP growth. The inter-relationship between political uncertainty, financial instability, and economic growth is crucial to stable functioning of a democratic society. Beginning in the early-1990s, a series of distinct issues reached crises levels and rocked the country. The rising level of Italy’s public debt impacted the country's financial stability, bringing to light the vulnerability of the political system at the time. 【Rossi】 The result was a decline in investment and technology. Italy briefly surpassed American income levels (1996), but then tarted losing pace with respect to the other advanced economies. The 1992-93 crisis was marked by a foreign-exchange crisis and the related financial quasi-crisis that began (September 1992). This was triggered by overly aggressive economic policies and foreign investors losing confidence in Italy resulting in a sharp devaluation of the Italian lira. This led to the collapse of the First Republic (1993). This brought to light g the deep-seated issues in Italy's political and economic life. This meant uncertainty about Italy's ability to meet the Maastricht Treaty commitments.

Sources

Bastasin, Carlo and Gianni Toniolo. The Rise and Fall of the Italian Economy (Cambridge University Press & Assessment: 2023).

Rossi, Salvatore. Aspects of Italian Economic Policy: from the 1992-93 Crisis to the Crisis of 2008-09 (Università Roma Tre: 2010).

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Created: 5:09 AM 9/13/2025
Last updated: 4:56 AM 9/13/2025