Continuity and Change in the Italian Model

The Italian model does not fit well with the existing classifications of production and welfare regimes. According to the varieties of capitalism approach, Italy is a ‘deviant case, characterized by’ a mix of logics, a high degree of institutional incoherence and an apparent absence of complementarities’ (Molina and Rhodes, 2007, p. 223). A predominance of small, family firms, a large state-enterprise sector and a familistic welfare state place Italy firmly within the southern European model (Karamessini, 2008). However, in the industrial district economy of northern Italy a different dynamic interaction of economic, social, political and cultural factors is found that conforms more to the continental model of coordinated market economies (Becattini, 1987; Brusco, 1989). Two production systems are thus nested within the Italian production model. Over time the economic divide has trickled down to the social sphere so that two varieties of social services have been developed within the national familistic welfare system. This latter divide, evident in education, health and social care, is characterized by a northern model of local services, which for quality and quantity tends towards the continental model, and a southern model which is struggling with economic, structural and political difficulties. The North-South dualism of the production and social models is the most distinctive trait of the Italian model. These models, at the national and local level, are confronted by various challenges.