The main objective of this paper is to shed light on the Italian entrepreneurship between the beginning of the second industrial revolution and the end of the twentieth century. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of 386 entrepreneurs. The results are twofold: first, by...

Taking an historical perspective, this unique book highlights the evolution of the many diverse forms of business enterprise, and discusses the contribution of these different types of firm to the economic growth of Italy.

In the paper the development of economic history will be placed within the evolution of Western thought and culture. Therefore an analysis of the connections between economic history and contemporary epistemology will be carried out. In this perspective an analogy with the traditional division...

In this paper we examine the phenomenon of independent invention in Italy during the liberal age (1861-1913). We make use of a new dataset comprising all patents granted in Italy in five benchmark years: 1864-65, 1881, 1891, 1902 and 1911. We carry out the following exercises. First we examine...

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...

Until the Banking reform in 1936, banks and industrial companies in Italy were strongly intertwined (both in terms on ownership and interlocking directorates). Using Imita.db – a large a dataset containing data on over 300,000 directors of Italian joint stock companies – this paper analyses...