Continuity and Change in Italian Corporate Governance: The Institutional Stability of One Variety of Capitalism

Abstract

For a long time family capitalism has been considered to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Italian economy. In Italy also large business organizations rely very often on this form of corporate governance. This paper examines both the actual institutional shocks and the missed opportunity for institutional shocks that have diversified the Italian economy from the other advanced capitalist economies. We maintain that, in the midst of the numerous changes that have characterized the last ten years, the strong presence of families in the governance of large enterprises has been an important aspect of systemic continuity. Despite the intentions of the reformers, the Italian model of family capitalism has been even purified to the point that it has come to approach a sort of Weberian ideal-type. Indeed, the role of other spurious (but, perhaps, complementary) institutions has been dramatically reduced with the eclipse of the power of Mediobanca and the privatization of the State sector while no serious challenge has threatened the dominance of family capitalism.

JEL Classification: N2, O1, P1, P5