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State Ownership and the Evolution of Italian Corporate Governance

Author

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  • Barca, Fabrizio
  • Trento, Sandro

Abstract

State ownership, pyramidal groups, family trust and a minor role for banks and other financial institutions in the corporate governance of both large and small enterprises are the structural features of Italian capitalism today. This paper offers a critical analysis of state ownership by analyzing the evolution of Italian corporate governance since the Second World War. It concludes that full or majority state ownership of corporations can be effective in separating ownership and control during stages of powerfully accelerating growth and when shifts in the sectoral balance are needed; that state-owned enterprises must not be burdened with 'special social objectives'; and that the system is bound to degenerate without a functioning political market to guarantee democratic changes of parties and power if the 'mission' culture of public managers is eroded. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Barca, Fabrizio & Trento, Sandro, 1997. "State Ownership and the Evolution of Italian Corporate Governance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(3), pages 533-559, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:6:y:1997:i:3:p:533-59
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    Cited by:

    1. Elisabetta BERTERO, 2006. "Does a change in the ownership of firms, from public to private, make a difference?," Departmental Working Papers 2006-03, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    2. Elisabetta Bertero & Laura Rondi, 2002. "Hardening a Soft Budget Constraint Through 'Upward Devolution' to a Supranational Institution: The Case of Italian State-Owned Firms and the European Union," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-16, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Giorgio Brunello & Clara Graziano & Bruno Parigi, 1999. "Ownership or Performance: What Determines Board of Directors' Turnover in Italy?," Working Papers 1999.30, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Emanuele Felice & Giovanni Vecchi, 2013. "Italy’s Growth and Decline, 1861-2011," CEIS Research Paper 293, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 11 Oct 2013.
    5. Ichiro Iwasaki, 2015. "Global Financial Crisis, Ownership Change, and Corporate Governance Evolution Firm-Level Evidence from Russia," KIER Working Papers 925, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    6. Elisabetta Bertero & Laura Rondi, 1998. "Managerial discretion and investment decisions of state-owned firms: Evidence from a panel of italian companies," CERIS Working Paper 199807, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    7. Sapienza, Paola, 2004. "The effects of government ownership on bank lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 357-384, May.
    8. Sapienza, Paola, 2002. "What Do State-Owned Firms Maximize? Evidence from the Italian Banks," CEPR Discussion Papers 3168, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Claudio Cozza & Antonello Zanfei, 2016. "Firm heterogeneity, absorptive capacity and technical linkages with external parties in Italy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 872-890, August.
    10. Elisabetta Bertero & Laura Rondi, 2002. "Does a Switch of Budget Regimes Constrain Managerial Discretion?: Evidence for Italian Public Enterprises' Investment," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-29, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. repec:fan:istois:v:html10.3280/isto2021-043005 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Alessandro Zeli & Paolo Mariani, 2009. "Productivity and profitability analysis of large Italian companies: 1998–2002," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 56(2), pages 175-188, June.
    13. Tkachenko, Andrey & Yakovlev, Andrei & Kuznetsova, Aleksandra, 2017. "‘Sweet deals’: State-owned enterprises, corruption and repeated contracts in public procurement," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 52-67.

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