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Alberto RINALDI

Professore Associato
Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi"

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Pubblicazioni

2024 - Interlocking Directorates ed élite imprendistoriale in Italia. 1913-2017 [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Lo studio degli interlocking directorates (ID) – ossia, i legami che si formano tra due società quando una stessa persona siede nel consiglio di amministrazione di entrambe – si è considerevolmente diffuso negli ultimi anni. Gli ID costituiscono parte della struttura che informa l’azione degli agenti economici: essi sono una rete – un meccanismo di coordinamento non gerarchico e non di mercato – attraverso cui ogni attore assimila e trasmette l’influenza di innumerevoli altri attori. Questo volume analizza la rete degli ID fra le 250 maggiori società italiane dal 1913 al 2017. La rete era molto coesa dal 1913 al 1960 – la densità massima fu raggiunta nel 1927, quando più forte era l’influenza della banca mista – e poi incominciò a declinare. L’erosione del network degli ID è un tratto comune a gran parte dei paesi industrializzati negli anni recenti, ma in Italia è iniziata prima ed è stata più pronunciata che altrove. Anche le forze all’opera sono state differenti: negli altri paesi la determinante principale è stata lo spostamento del baricentro dell’attività delle banche dall’intermediazione del risparmio all’investment banking, che ha ridotto il loro interesse verso gli ID con le imprese industriali, mentre in Italia un ruolo centrale hanno avuto alcuni shock istituzionali, a partire dalla nazionalizzazione dell’industria elettrica nel 1962. Il volume mostra poi che un numero molto ristretto di individui – i big linkers – genera una proporzione molto elevata degli ID. Queste persone svolgono un ruolo molto importante nell’assicurare la coesione dell’élite imprenditoriale infondendo valori e codici di comportamento condivisi, una funzione che però sembra essersi affievolita negli anni recenti.

2023 - Databases, network analysis and business history [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Salvaj, E.; Pak, S.; Halgin, D.
abstract

This article discusses the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to corporate networks in a long-term and historical perspective. Starting with the basic concepts of corporate networks and the main research themes it has addressed in business history, the article then introduces how historical quantitative archival data can be played with and turned into excel data suitable for the study of social networks by using software such as UCINET. The article then provides two examples of how this methodology has been used at both the macro and the micro levels: national corporate networks in Argentina and Chile from 1900 to 2010 and the social club memberships, partnership ties, and interlocking directorates of J.P. Morgan & Co. in the early twentieth century. Finally, the article discusses new perspectives for the application of SNA in business history

2023 - Research themes, databases and network analysis in business history. Paper prepared for ARS’23 Ninth International Workshop on Social Network Analysis, Ischia Island, Naples, 2-3 May 2023 [Altro]
Rinaldi, A.; Salvaj, E.; Pak, S.; Halgin, D.
abstract

This paper discusses the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to corporate networks in a long-term and historical perspective. Starting with the basic concepts of corporate networks and the main research themes it has addressed in business history, the paper then introduces how historical quantitative archival data can be played with and turned into excel data suitable for the study of social networks by using software such as UCINET or Pajek. The paper then provides some examples of how this methodology has been used at both the macro and the micro levels: national corporate networks in Argentina, Chile and Italy from 1900 to 2017; business networks and economic elites in Southern Italy in the 19th century; the social club memberships, partnership ties, and interlocking directorates of J.P. Morgan & Co. in the early twentieth century. Finally, the paper discusses new perspectives for the application of SNA in business history, including the study of other networks than those of directors, i.e., shareholders’ networks, networks that are created by joint membership of think-tanks, syndics, policy-planning group, university board, employers’ associations, philanthropic associations.

2023 - The banking-industry relationship in Italy: Large national banks and small local banks compared (1913-1936) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.; Spadavecchia, A.
abstract

This chapter uses network analysis to investigate the systems of corporate interlocks of large German-style universal banks as compared to those of smaller local banks in Italy in the years 1913-36. The main result is that the latter were more common an relevant than previously believed. Mobilization of resources at the local level to prompt industrialization seems therefore to be a long-term trait of Italian capitalism.

2023 - Visione, governance e politica industriale in Emilia-Romagna: un'analisi di lungo periodo [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Solinas, G.
abstract

L’Emilia-Romagna (ER) è un caso esemplare di industrializzazione basata sulle piccole e medie imprese che ha coniugato una rapida crescita economica con un elevato livello di coesione sociale. A differenza di altre regioni con una struttura produttiva similare, lo sviluppo industriale in ER è stato sostenuto sin dall’inizio dalle politiche industriali degli enti locali: dapprima i comuni e le province e poi la Regione. Un tratto peculiare dell’ER è la sua forte stabilità politica, in quanto dal 1945 tutti i principali enti locali della regione sono governati dallo stesso partito: il Pci (sino al 1991) e poi i suoi partiti successori (Pds, Ds e Pd). Il presente lavoro analizza il ruolo delle piccole imprese nell’analisi del maggiore partito di governo della regione e come questa visione abbia informato il sistema di governance e la politica industriale a livello locale regionale. Si mostrerà come visione, governance e politica industriale si siano intrecciate e siano cambiate nel corso del tempo, sostenendo il cambiamento strutturale e la resilienza economica della regione. Tuttavia, negli anni recenti sono emersi alcuni punti critici, per superare i quali potrebbe essere richiesto un nuovo orientamento delle politiche e un'apertura dello stesso del sistema di governance in senso maggiormente trasformativo.

2022 - Commercio estero e crescita economica in Italia. Un'analisi di lungo periodo: 1863-2004 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Questo capitolo analizza la relazione tra esportazioni reali, importazioni reali e PIL reale in Italia dal 1863 al 2004 usando l’analisi di cointegrazione e i test di causalità di Granger, applicati alle serie storiche più recenti. Il capitolo mostra, per il periodo 1863-1913, una forte evidenza a favore delle ipotesi di crescita trainata dalle importazioni e esportazioni trainate dalla crescita. Per il periodo 1951-2004 si rileva, invece, una forte bi-direzionalità tra le serie dell’import e dell’export reali e anche una debole evidenza a favore sia di una crescita trainata dalle esportazioni che di importazioni trainate dalla crescita. La debole conferma dell’ipotesi export-led lascia intendere che la crescita economica dell’Italia nel secondo dopoguerra fu trainata anche da altri fattori: fra questi, l’espansione della domanda interna e, soprattutto, l’elevato tasso di crescita dello stock di capitale.

2022 - Finanza e sviluppo economico in Italia, 1870-1913 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Incerpi, A.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Questo capitolo analizza il legame tra finanza e sviluppo economico dell’Italia tra l’Unità nazionale e la prima guerra mondiale. Gli studi sia di economia che di storia economica che analizzano il legame tra settore bancario e sviluppo economico si focalizzano o sul ruolo delle istituzioni finanziarie nazionali o su quello dei movimenti internazionali di capitale. Ad essi si è aggiunto di recente un filone di ricerca che si concentra sul ruolo delle rimesse degli emigrati nel sostenere l’accumulazione di capitale e la crescita economica. Tuttavia, pochissimi lavori hanno cercato di connettere tra loro tutte queste componenti e di misurarne l’importanza relativa. Grazie alla disponibilità di serie storiche ragionevolmente lunghe, si fa uso di un modello autoregressivo vettoriale (VAR) che esprime ogni variabile economica e finanziaria come funzione lineare dei propri valori passati, considerando i valori di tutte le altre variabili. I risultati suggeriscono che gli investimenti sono stati alimentati da una pluralità di fonti di finanziamento – capitale estero, risparmio nazionale, rimesse degli emigrati – in contrasto con quanto comunemente sostenuto in letteratura, che ha posto l’accento ora su una e ora su un’altra di esse. L’implicazione di questa scoperta è che l’Italia a quel tempo era probabilmente un paese meno arretrato di quanto comunemente ritenuto. Va rimarcato l’impatto rilevante delle rimesse sul finanziamento degli investimenti nel periodo esaminato. Questo risultato è originale e sottolinea un punto largamente trascurato dalla letteratura.

2022 - Gender quota on corporate boards in Italy: spillover effects and financial performance [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Poma, E.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of the introduction of mandatory gender quotas for the boards of directors of listed firms and state-participated companies (LP) in Italy. It investigates its effects on firms directly targeted by the new regulation as well as its indirect effects on firms that are not. To this aim, we use difference-in-difference and panel fixed-effects estimations. Our main results are that quotas directly increased female presence on boards of LP companies and produced some “positive spillover effects”, i.e., a higher proportion of women in top executive positions in LP firms and a higher share of women on boards of non-listed firms and non-participated firms (NLNP), even if the latter were not targeted by the law. We also find evidence for a positive impact of higher board gender diversity on firm performance in specific conditions, such as boards of small size and NLNP companies.

2022 - Gender quotas between glass ceiling crack and firm performance: evidence from Italy's financial sector [Working paper]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Poma, Erica; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Using a panel data of Italian corporate companies, this paper evaluates the impact of mandatory gender quotas in corporate boards in the financial sector. We find that gender quotas reduce glass ceiling barriers in this traditionally male industry, increasing women’s presence on boards of both companies targeted by the law and in those that are not, with positive spillover effects on this subsample. We also find that the higher women’s presence on boards has different impacts on firms’ financial performance: it has a negative effect on the financial sector as a whole and a positive one on firms with small boards. Our results support the introduction of gender quotas, given its positive spillover effects on glass ceiling barriers and on the overall increased women’s presence on boards.

2022 - Introduzione [Capitolo/Saggio]
Incerpi, A.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Questo capitolo introduttivo posiziona il volume nel panorama degli studi di cliometria in Italia

2022 - L'economia carpigiana dal secondo dopoguerra agli anni Novanta del Novecento [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Il capitolo ricostruisce le principali vicende della grande mutazione economica che, nella seconda metà del Novecento, ha trasformato Carpi da zona prevalentemente agricola a una delle aree industriali più dinamiche del paese. Questa trasformazione è stata resa possibile dalla nascita di una nuova industria, il tessile-abbigliamento (TA), che ha adattato ai suoi bisogni tutto ciò che ha ereditato dalla precedente manifattura truciolo. Nel corso del tempo, il TA ha mostrato una notevole resilienza agli shock economici, dimostrandosi capace di adattarsi e di intraprendere nuove traiettorie di sviluppo. Il capitolo sottolinea poi la poli-settorialità dello sviluppo locale carpigiano: accanto al TA, si sono affermati anche alcuni comparti della meccanica, dell'agro-alimentare ed una significativa presenza della cooperazione.

2022 - L'economia italiana in età liberale. Una raccolta di saggi di cliometria [Curatela]
Incerpi, A.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Negli ultimi anni la cliometria si è affermata come il paradigma metodologico dominante nella storia economica. Questa disciplina utilizza gli strumenti teorici e le tecniche di analisi quantitativa propri dell’economia per indagare quei fenomeni a cui gli storici economici tradizionali avevano tentato di rispondere attraverso indagini qualitativo-descrittive e l’analisi delle fonti. Il presente volume presenta tre saggi dedicati ad altrettanti aspetti della storia economica dell’Italia liberale, un tema sul quale Stefano Fenoaltea, il fondatore della cliometria italiana, ha profuso tanti dei suoi sforzi di ricerca. Il primo analizza, usando l’analisi di cointegrazione e i test di causalità di Granger applicati alle serie storiche più recenti, la relazione tra commercio estero e crescita economica in Italia nel lungo periodo. Nel secondo viene investigato, usando un modello autoregressivo vettoriale (VAR), il legame tra capitale estero, mobilizzazione del risparmio nazionale, rimesse degli emigrati e sviluppo economico dell’Italia tra l’Unità nazionale e la Prima guerra mondiale. Infine, il terzo presenta una rassegna della storiografia cliometrica sulle tematiche di genere nell’Italia liberale.

2022 - PNRR, digitalizzazione e piccole imprese [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo lavoro sostiene che la riproposizione nel PNRR degli strumenti erogatori automatici di “Industria 4.0” quale misura principale per il sostegno alla digitalizzazione delle imprese rischia di riprodurre su scala allargata gli effetti selettivi di quest’ultima, in particolare il divario tra grandi e piccole imprese nella transizione digitale. Il PNRR sembra mancare di una visione adeguata del ruolo delle piccole imprese nel sistema produttivo italiano. In un contesto nel quale le piccole imprese sono per la maggior parte imprese fornitrici fortemente integrate nelle catene globali del valore (CGV), la politica industriale dovrebbe promuovere l’inserimento di queste imprese in CGV caratterizzate da una governance di tipo “relazionale”, in cui la posizione dei fornitori è più forte, in quanto essi sono coinvolti non solo nella produzione di componenti, ma anche nelle fasi della catena del valore più knowledge-intensive, come R&S e progettazione.

2022 - Women as an (un)tapped resource for Italy's corporate boards, 1983-2017 [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Corporate boards have been male bastions until very recently and women have been very few and difficult to track. In Italy, this has given rise to growing debates that eventually led to the introduction of mandatory gender quotas for listed companies and state-participated (LP) companies in 2011. This paper addresses this topic by investigating the presence of women among the directors of the top 250 Italian joint-stock companies in four benchmark years spanning from 1983 to 2017. In 1983, women were still nearly absent from Italian corporate boards and their number showed a sizeable increase only in the 21st century, especially after the introduction of mandatory gender quotas. This paper shows that quotas not only increased female presence on boards of LP companies, that were directly affected by this regulation, but also produced some indirect “positive spillover effects”, i.e., a higher proportion of women on boards of non-LP firms, even if the latter were not required to comply with this law. The paper also shows the precocious role of cooperatives in prompting the entry of Italian women in boardrooms. Moral suasion by umbrella organisations – especially the left-wing Legacoop – played a paramount role in this respect and acted as sort of “substitution factor” for the law. Legacoop recommended affiliated coops to appoint more women on boards even before the enactment of the 2011 law for LP companies: this recommendation soon became a good practice adopted by an increasing number of coops. Lastly, the paper shows how the massive increase in seats held by women led to a professionalization of female directors in Italy, even though women are still largely excluded from top executive positions.

2022 - Women directors in Italy: 1913–2017 [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Tagliazucchi, Giulia
abstract

Corporate elites have been male bastions until very recently and businesswomen have been very few and difficult to track. This paper addresses this topic by investigating the presence of women among the directors of the top 250 Italian joint-stock companies in eleven benchmark years spanning from 1913 to 2017. It shows a male preponderance throughout the period investigated. Women were nearly totally excluded from Italian boards until the end of the 20th century and their number showed a sizeable increase only after the turn of the century. Women also occupied marginal positions in the boards: very few of them held multiple directorships and the first female interlocker appeared only in 1972. In a country dominated by family capitalism, for a long time the very few women directors sat on the boards of family firms and were members of the families that owned these firms. The presence of women in Italian corporate boards was boosted in recent years by the introduction in 2011 of mandatory gender quotas for listed firms and for firms participated by the state. This law provided legitimacy to the appointment of women on boards also in other firms not affected by the new regulation. The massive increase in seats held by women led to a professionalisation of female directors in Italy, even though women are still largely excluded from top executive positions.

2021 - Imprese italiane in Argentina nel secondo dopoguerra. Competizione internazionale, globalizzazione e migrazione [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.; Strangio, D.; Lluch, A.; Lanciotti, N. S.; Arezzo, M. F.
abstract

Il lavoro ricostruisce la storia del lavoro e dell'impresa italiana in Argentina dall'inizio del Novecento al 1970.

2021 - Regional Resilience: Lessons from a historical analysis of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Bianchi, P.; Giardino, R.; Labory, S.; Rinaldi, A.; Solinas, G.
abstract

Although regional resilience has been widely discussed in recent years, scholars recognise that there is little understanding of the determinants of the long-term adaptive capacity of regions. Policies for regional resilience have not been discussed at great length. This paper analyses industry evolution and industrial policies in a historical perspective, focussing on the case of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, that in the 1980s drew wide attention as a successful case of flexible specialisation based on industrial districts and has experienced important transformations. It has also consistently implemented industrial policies since the 1980s, and we suggest they had a role in favouring the region’s resilience, especially in terms of the long-term vision of industrial development that this policy provides and promotes through various instruments.

2021 - The banking-industry relationship in Italy: large national banks and small local banks compared (1913-1936) [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Spadavecchia, A.
abstract

Using a large dataset of Italian joint-stock companies, this article analyses the networks of corporate interlocks of the major universal banks and 20 most ‘central’ local banks in a critical period of Italian industrialisation. The networks of the two types of banks were largely independent, with universal banks being affiliated principally to larger concerns in electricity, transport and storage, and financials; and local banks to riskier, younger and smaller firms in light manufacturing. The article then explores whether the bank-industry relationship in Italy reflected the hegemony of banks and followed a bank-control model. Our analysis does not support that view. It rather indicates that interlocking directorates were driven principally by a convergence of interests between banks (monitoring customers) and industrial firms (interested in tapping capital and credit flows), with the latter exerting a slightly higher influence over the former. This significantly differentiates Italy from Germany and the USA, where banks had a more dominant position in the corporate system.

2021 - Women entrepreneurs in Italy: A prosopographic study [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Women entrepreneurs have long been an understudied topic in business history. This article contributes to fill this gap by analysing Italian women’s entrepreneurship from the mid twentieth century to 2016. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of the 80 women who were successful entrepreneurs and became Cavalieri del Lavoro (Knights of Labour), i.e. they were decorated with the Ordine al ‘Merito del Lavoro’ (Order of Merit for Labour), the highest recognition for achievements in the world of business in Italy. The dataset also includes a comparable sample of men who obtained the same award to single out the main similarities and differences between men and women entrepreneurs. This article employs a quantitative prosopographic approach: after presenting some descriptive statistics and some exemplary cases of successful women entrepreneurs, it uses cluster analysis to identify typological groups of women versus men entrepreneurs. The main results show that the institutional context and gender stereotypes slowed down the development of Italian women’s entrepreneurial abilities. Women entrepreneurs tend to cluster in family firms and to have become entrepreneurs by inheritance, whereas they have been handicapped in all other fields relevant to entrepreneurial success: access to education (especially STEM), managerial career, and experience abroad. Nonetheless, women entrepreneurs operated beyond women’s niches tied to the traditional ideology of femininity, e.g. textiles, garment and services. Several women operated in sectors such as chemicals and engineering in which many Italian industrial districts are specialised.

2020 - Città industriale e sviluppo locale: Modena e Ivrea a confronto. [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Ferrarini, Filippo; Piscitelli, Giulia; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper analyses local development in Modena, with an economy based on SMEs, and Ivrea, dominated by one big company. The different industrial structures deeply affected urban development: the municipality of Modena created an “Artisan Neighbourhood” – special areas for SMEs – whereas Ivrea developed the “Industrial City” designed by Adriano Olivetti. In recent years, the formation of large brownfield sites have prompted important redevelopment projects in both cities.

2020 - Dalla crisi delle "Reggiane" alla globalizzazione (1951-2000) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo capitolo mostra come la liquidazione coatta amministrativa delle Officin Reggiane nel 1952 e la successiva riapertura, fortemente ridimensionate, delle Nuove Officine Reggiane liberò un enorme patrimonio di professionalità a Reggio Emilia. Molti operai e tecnici licenziati avviarono delle attività in proprio e divennero piccoli imprenditori, mentre altri si resero disponibili per le fabbriche già esistenti. Inoltre, il disimpegno delle aziende motoristiche – Lombardini, Slanzi e Ruggerini – dai comparti a valle, creò lo spazio lo sviluppo dei comparti delle piccole macchine agricole e delle pompe. Il periodo compreso tra la metà degli anni Cinquanta alla fine degli anni Settanta vide una fortissima crescita della meccanica agricole, che si affermò come il principale comparto dell’intera meccanica reggiana. La crescita del mercato sollecitò il delinearsi di una crescente specializzazione ed interdipendenza produttiva tra le imprese. Come risultato, negli anni Settanta la meccanica reggiana si configurava come un vero e proprio distretto industriale, ossia un sistema produttivo caratterizzato dalla presenza in un’area geograficamente circoscritta di un gran numero di imprese, tutte impegnate nello stesso settore produttivo. Di queste, solo alcune producevano beni finali (trattori, motocoltivatori, pompe, macchine per fienagione, elettrodomestici, e così via), mentre le altre fabbricavano parti e componenti – oleodinamici e non – o effettuavano lavorazioni meccaniche (tornitura, fresatura, carpenteria, e così via) per le prime. Così, ogni impresa era specializzata in una o in poche fasi del processo produttivo tipico del distretto. Non solo, ma sia le aziende che affidavano all’esterno queste lavorazioni sia quelle che le eseguivano in conto-terzi erano numerose. Di conseguenza, nessuna impresa disponeva di una posizione dominante ed era in grado di imporre le proprie condizioni alle altre; al contrario, tra le imprese specializzate in attività complementari vi era una forte spinta alla collaborazione. Negli anni Ottanta, la crisi della meccanica agricola innescò un profondo riaggiustamento del distretto. Alcune imprese produttrici di macchine agricole reagirono diversificandosi in comparti tecnologicamente correlati, come l’hobbistica e le attrezzature per il giardinaggio e la manutenzione del verde pubblico. Ma, soprattutto, si affermarono settori nuovi ed in rapida crescita, come l’oleodinamica e la «meccatronica», ossia quel comparto che produce beni altamente sofisticati derivanti dall’integrazione della meccanica con l’informatica e l’elettronica.

2020 - Finance and Development in Italy, 1870-1913 [Articolo su rivista]
Incerpi, A.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of financing (foreign capital, migrants’ remittances, and domestic banks intermediation) on Italy’s economic development between 1861 and the World War I. Existing literature has analysed the role of these channels of financial intermediation separately, while this paper for the first time considers them in conjunction. Using IRF from a Cholesky identification structure of a VAR model and relying on an original dataset that combines the most recent series of several financial and economic aggregates, this paper shows that investment in Italy was fuelled by a plurality of sources of funding. A crucial role was played by national saving mobilized by domestic banks and also remittances had a significant impact. Our evidence is instead weaker for foreign capital.

2020 - Finance and Economic Development in Italy, 1870-1913 [Working paper]
Incerpi, A.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of financing (foreign capital, migrants’ remittances, and domestic banks intermediation) on Italy’s economic development between 1861 and the World War I. Existing literature has analysed the role of these channels of financial intermediation separately, while this paper for the first time considers them in conjunction. Using IRF from a Cholesky identification structure of a VAR model and relying on an original dataset that combines the most recent series of several financial and economic aggregates, this paper shows that investment in Italy was fueled by a plurality of sources of funding. A crucial role was played by national saving mobilized by domestic banks and also remittances had a significant impact. Our evidence is instead weaker for foreign capital.

2020 - Mercati e specializzazioni dei prodotti medicali: implicazioni per lo sviluppo dell’industria regionale post Covid-19 [Articolo su rivista]
Giardino, R.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of Covid-19 crisis on the medical device industry, a sector of particular relevance for the economy of Emilia-Romagna. This is an anti-cyclical sector which accounts for 6% of world trade in goods and in a post-coronavirus scenario can represent an important driver for economic growth. MNEs play a paramount role in this sector, especially German, American Swiss companies with a global manufacturing system and worldwide distribution channels. Such a significant presence of MNEs can be detected also in the region, where one of major biomedical districts in the EU is located. This paper argues that the vulnerability of GVCs that has been made apparent by the Covid epidemics creates the opportunity for a renewed industrial policy by the Region Emilia-Romagna that facilitates local SMEs to join most advanced GVCs in which SMEs – especially supplier ones – are involved in strategic stages of the value chains such as R&D and design. A possible tool is conditioning regional funding to R&D projects of MNEs to their partnering with a minimum number of local SMEs. Keywords: Covid-19; medical device industry; GVC; Regional industrial policy

2020 - Pénzügyi elitek és az olasz vállalati hálózat, 1913-2001 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.; Vasta, M.
abstract

2020 - Sviluppo locale e città industriale nel XX e XXI secolo. Local Development and the Industrial City in the 20th and 21st Centuries, in M. Ghizzoni, M. Savorra, D. Strangio e E. Svalduz (a cura di), Atti del IX Congresso dell’Associazione Italiana di Storia Urbana “La città globale. La condizione urbana come fenomeno pervasivo”, Sezione C: Storia locale storia globale: Dimensioni, scale e interazioni. Local History, Global History: Dimensions, Scale and Interactions, AISU International, Torino, 2020, pp. 395-396; [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, A.; Strangio, D.
abstract

Introduzione alla sessione “Sviluppo locale e città industriale nel XX e XXI secolo" del IX Congresso dell’Associazione Italiana di Storia Urbana “La città globale. La condizione urbana come fenomeno pervasivo”, Bologna, 11-14 settembre 2019.

2019 - Directors and syndics in corporate networks: Argentina and Italy compared (1913-1990) [Articolo su rivista]
Lluch, Andrea; Rinaldi, Alberto; Salvaj, Erica; Vasta, Michelangelo
abstract

This article analyses the evolution of corporate networks in Argentina and Italy from 1913 to 1990, using an interlocking directorates technique applied to six benchmark years and the largest 25 banks and 100 non-financial companies in both countries. The descriptive statistics of the companies and directors in the sample provide input for a network connectivity analysis of the two systems, integrated with historical and structural analyses. Furthermore, this article provides the first assessment of syndics – special auditors for firms – to the network analyses. Relying on a recently established analytical framework, the authors show that the Argentine and Italian corporate networks exhibit different structures and evolutions over time. This research broadens the extant analytical framework by exploring how syndics contribute to corporate networks and how the interaction of macro, meso, and micro levels affects the evolution of syndicatures in the two countries. Finally, the detailed taxonomy of syndics offers evidence of companies’ selection strategies and the historical uses of syndicature as a governance mechanism.

2019 - L'imprenditoria femminile in Italia. Le Cavaliere del Lavoro [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Il saggio analizza le principali analogie e differenze tra l’imprenditoria maschile e quella femminile in Italia utilizzando le biografie di tutte le donne insignite del Cavalierato del Lavoro dall’istituzione dell’Ordine al 2016 e quelle di un campione comparabile di uomini che hanno ottenuto lo stesso riconoscimento. Il saggio evidenzia che la famiglia appare l’unica istituzione ad avere fornito un sostegno alle donne quando queste si sono trovate ad intraprendere un’attività imprenditoriale. In molti casi, una figura maschile (il padre o il marito) ha agito da garante della donna imprenditrice davanti agli stakeholder e alla comunità degli affari. Inoltre, in non poche circostanze la donna si è trovata catapultata al vertice dell’impresa di famiglia in seguito ad un evento traumatico, quale la scomparsa del congiunto (padre, marito o fratello) che l’aveva gestita sino a quel momento. La famiglia ha svolto un ruolo fondamentale anche nel consentire alle donne di non restare confinate nelle nicchie di attività tradizionalmente femminili. Infatti, tra le imprenditrici insignite del Cavalierato del Lavoro se ne trovano molte che operano in settori tradizionalmente maschili – come la meccanica e la chimica – che sono due delle principali specializzazioni dei distretti industriali italiani. La famiglia ha funto da luogo in cui le donne hanno potuto accedere alle competenze tecniche e manageriali necessarie per affermarsi in queste industrie. Al tempo stesso, anche quando operavano in settori considerati “maschili”, le donne non hanno mancato di introdurre uno stile manageriale che valorizza tratti tipicamente femminili, come una più elevata propensione al coinvolgimento in attività sociali. Di converso, le donne sono state penalizzate in tutti gli altri ambiti rilevanti per il successo imprenditoriale: l’accesso all’istruzione superiore (soprattutto alle STEM e agli studi di ingegneria), l’accesso alla carriera manageriale e la possibilità di svolgere esperienze di studio e di lavoro all’estero. Questo appare come un grave fallimento delle istituzioni italiane. Gli stereotipi di genere e il “soffitto di cristallo” sembrano essere particolarmente forti soprattutto in settori come l’intermediazione finanziaria e le public utilities che sono dominati da imprese a gestione manageriale e in cui non operano le imprese familiari. Al tempo stesso, a differenza che in altri paesi, anche lo stato non ha usato l’impresa pubblica quale strumento per promuovere la formazione di una classe manageriale femminile. Infine, il saggio evidenzia il ruolo cruciale svolto dall’accesso all’istruzione terziaria – specialmente nelle STEM e in ingegneria – quale leva per promuovere la qualificazione dell’imprenditoria femminile e renderla più simile a quella maschile in termini sia di specializzazione settoriale che di capacità innovativa.

2019 - Ladies of the ticker. Women and Wall Street from the gilded age to the great depression [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This work is a review of the book "Ladies of the ticker. Women and wall street from the gilded age to the great depression", by George Robb, Urbana, Chicago and Springfield, University of Illinois Press, 2017, x + 254 pp.

2019 - Le donne nella magistratura italiana: 1960-1990 [Working paper]
Addabbo, T.; Giuntini, A.; Pillo, F.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

In un contesto caratterizzato da una limitata presenza di donne nell’attività retribuita in Italia, che ci pone ai livelli più bassi riscontrati in Europa rispetto ai tassi di occupazione femminile, questo paper si interroga sui fattori determinanti la bassa partecipazione delle donne al mercato del lavoro e fra questi individua anche i limiti nell’accesso alle professioni. Il presente lavoro analizza una particolare professione che, sino al 1963, era preclusa alle donne in Italia: la Magistratura. Esso ricostruisce il contesto storico che ha portato all’approvazione della Legge n. 66 del 9 febbraio 1963 ed estende l’analisi sino agli anni novanta, rilevando che la persistenza di evidenti criticità di tipo retributivo e preclusivo alle carriere direttive riscontrate dalle donne in Italia affonda nel passato le sue radici. Ricostruite le linee generali degli aspetti storici e giuridici ed evidenziate le principali difficoltà che le donne hanno dovuto affrontare, il presente lavoro ha l’obiettivo di far emergere il lungo e tortuoso percorso che ha consentito l’entrata delle donne in Magistratura, ponendo in evidenza i limiti che tuttora impediscono una piena ed effettiva integrazione delle donne in Italia a tutti i livelli di questo settore.

2019 - M. Fornasari e O. Mazzotti (a cura di), Anima civitatis. Capitale umano e sviluppo economico in Romagna dall’Ottocento al Duemila, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2018. [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

2018 - Financial Elites and the Italian Corporate Network, 1913-2001 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.; Vasta, M.
abstract

This paper analyses the Italian corporate network from 1913 to 2001 focusing on seven benchmark years (1913, 1927, 1936, 1960, 1972, 1983, and 2001). For each benchmark year, the top 250 companies (50 financial and 200 non financial companies) by total assets have been selected. For each benchmark year, after showing some descriptive statistics, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a prosopographic study of the big linkers, defined as those directors who had the highest number of board positions in each benchmark year. We assume that the big linkers who held directorships in both banks and industrial firms functioned as the nation’s financial elite. This seems a promising approach as it allows to show the interactions between structure and agency, that is, between the evolution of the structure of the corporate network and the profile of business leaders.

2018 - L'economia politica del credito alla piccola e media impresa in Italia: 1945-2000 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, A.; Spadavecchia, A.
abstract

Questo saggio mostra come la struttura del settore bancario in Italia sia stata la risultante di una deliberata azione istituzionale e analizza il ruolo del sistema del credito agevolato nel promuovere l’espansione del settore delle PMI e dell’artigianato. Esso evidenzia come una posizione favorevole alle PMI fosse stata espressa da tutti i principali protagonisti in grado di influenzare l’institution building, in particolare i maggiori partiti e la Banca d'Italia. Questo portò alla formazione di un sistema bancario segmentato e fortemente regolato, nel quale le banche locali fornivano il credito a breve termine alle piccole e medie imprese agglomerate nei distretti industriali, mentre il credito a medio termine era erogato dagli istituti di credito speciale promossi dallo Stato come i mediocrediti e l’Artigiancassa.

2018 - La spesa pubblica in Italia. Una crescita senza limiti? [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto; Salsano, Francesco
abstract

Nell’ultimo decennio, nei paesi occidentali la sostenibilità dei debiti sovrani dovuta alla dimensione ed al finanziamento dei disavanzi pubblici ha posto al centro del dibattito politico-economico il livello e la crescita della spesa pubblica. È così ritornata di attualità la “legge di Wagner”, che prende il nome dallo studioso tedesco Adolf Wagner, il quale, alla fine dell’ottocento, aveva individuato una regolarità empirica, secondo cui, con lo sviluppo economico, aumenta la quota della spesa pubblica sul reddito nazionale. Questo volume analizza l’evoluzione della spesa pubblica e sottoporre a verifica la “legge di Wagner” in Italia lungo l’intera storia post-unitaria. Si trova un’evidenza molto forte in favore di detta legge dall’Unità nazionale alla fine del XIX secolo, quando essa è verificata sia per la spesa totale che per tutte le singole categorie di spesa. Diversa è la situazione nel secondo dopoguerra, quando la legge di Wagner vale non più per la spesa totale, ma solo per sue alcune categorie: infrastrutture, welfare e azione redistributrice, ma non per la spesa in istruzione. Così, se da un lato questa configurazione della spesa è servita a rafforzare il ruolo dello Stato nella società italiana e ad accomodare una domanda crescente di protezione sociale da parte dei cittadini, dall’altro lato è dubbio che essa sia stata funzionale a promuovere al meglio la crescita economica.

2018 - Women Entrepreneurs in Italy: A prosopographic Study [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Tagliazucchi, G.
abstract

Women entrepreneurs have long been an understudied topic in business history. This paper contributes to fill this gap by analyzing Italian women’s entrepreneurship from the mid-20th century to 2016. It is based on a new dataset concerning the profiles of the 80 women who were successful entrepreneurs and became Cavalieri del Lavoro (Knights of Labour), i.e., they were decorated with the Ordine al “Merito del Lavoro” (Order of Merit for Labour), the highest recognition for achievements in the world of business in Italy. The dataset also includes a comparable balanced sample of men who obtained the same award to single out the main similarities and differences between men and women entrepreneurs. This paper employs a quantitative prosopographic approach: after presenting some descriptive statistics and some exemplary cases of women entrepreneurs, it uses cluster analysis to identify typological groups of women versus men entrepreneurs. This paper show that the institutional context and gender stereotypes slowed down the development of Italian women’s entrepreneurial abilities. Women entrepreneurs tend to cluster in family firms and to have become entrepreneurs by inheritance, whereas they have been handicapped in all other fields relevant to entrepreneurial success: access to education (especially STEM), managerial career and experience abroad. Nonetheless, women entrepreneurs operated beyond women’s niches tied to the traditional ideology of femininity, e.g., textiles, garment and services. Several women operated in sectors such as chemicals and engineering in which many Italian industrial districts are specialized.

2017 - Conclusioni. Il futuro economico dell'Italia in prospettiva storica: le policy oggi [Capitolo/Saggio]
Di Martino, Paolo; Vasta, Michelangelo; Cappelli, Gabriele; Colli, Andrea; Felice, Emanuele; Nuvolari, Alessandro; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Il capitolo suggerisce una serie di raccomandazioni di politica economica alla luce dell'analisi di oltre un secolo e mezzo di storia economica dell'Italia unita

2017 - Government spending and its components in Italy, 1862-2009: drivers and policy implications [Articolo su rivista]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto; Salsano, Francesco
abstract

Using a new historical dataset over the time period 1862-2009, this paper tests the validity of Wagner’s Law of public spending (WL) in Italy. To this aim, cointegration and Granger causation are used to investigate the long run relationship between GDP and government expenditure. Moreover, DOLS method is applied to estimate consistent long run elasticity between these two variables. In contrast to previous studies, we evaluate WL for both total government expenditure and some specific items of spending. Our main findings are that WL does not hold in the long run for total government expenditure. However, we find strong support for WL in the shorter time span from 1862 to the end of the 19th century. Here WL is confirmed as regards both total government expenditure and all the specific items of spending we have considered. Conversely, in the post-Second World War years, WL holds only for capital expenditure, compensation of employees, justice and national security, welfare and redistribution by the state. Thus, it seems that Italy invested a great deal and for a long period in infrastructures, justice, national security, and welfare, and less in items such as education and culture that play a paramount role in the formation of human capital. Keywords:

2017 - Istituzioni, politica e struttura industriale [Capitolo/Saggio]
Colli, Andrea; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo capitolo sostiene che la peculiare struttura industriale dell'Italia, caratterizzata da una dominanza della piccola e media impresa e dal ruolo marginale della grande impresa, sia dovuta solo in parte ai fallimenti imprenditoriali della grande impresa e al dinamismo dei piccoli imprenditori, ma sia soprattutto la conseguenza dell'azione delle istituzioni. Questa è risultata poco efficace in tutte le aree in cui la crescita delle grande impresa poteva essere sostenuta: affermazione di una leadership tecnologica, internazionalizzazione, formazione del capitale umano, finanza per lo sviluppo. Di converso, le istituzioni hanno attuato un'azione efficace a favore dell'espansione dell'area dell'impresa minore. Questa azione delle istituzioni è stata, a sua volta, la conseguenza di un difetto di egemonia della grande impresa nella società italiana e dell'assenza di una ideologia dell'industrializzazione incentrata sul ruolo centrale e progressivo della grande impresa.

2017 - Nascita e sviluppo del distretto biomedicale mirandolese: un excursus storico-economico (1962-2012) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Questo capitolo mostra che il distretto biomedicale di Mirandola è sorto e si è sviluppato grazie ad una combinazione originale di due settori manifatturieri che già erano presenti nella zona o in territori adiacenti: la meccanica e la lavorazione delle materie plastiche. Il distretto nacque negli anni Sessanta su iniziativa di un farmacista della zona, Mario Veronesi, che diede vita ad una serie di aziende, cedute dopo pochi anni a multinazionali, e a processi di spin-off, che alimentarono la proliferazione di piccole imprese biomedicali nella zona, sia finali che di subfornitura. A tale processo si accompagnò, a partire dalla metà degli anni Settanta, lo sviluppo di un know how locale distintivo, che consentì di abbandonare la produzione per imitazione di prodotti statunitensi. I caratteri peculiari del distretto biomedicale mirandolese – che lo distinguono da molti altri distretti industriali italiani sono la specializzazione high tech e la presenza precoce, sin dalle origini, di grandi multinazionali che hanno rilevato le imprese locali più promettenti. Le multinazionali hanno rappresentato un ponte tra il distretto e i mercati globali, in quanto, grazie alla loro organizzazione commerciale, i prodotti fabbricati a Mirandola hanno potuto essere venduti in tutto del mondo. Esse, inoltre, hanno consentito alle imprese mirandolesi di disporre di risorse adeguate per la ricerca e sviluppo di nuovi prodotti e di realizzare collaborazioni con istituzioni di ricerca ed ospedali esterni all’ambito locale

2017 - Reassessing the bank-industry relationship in Italy, 1913-1936: a counterfactual analysis [Articolo su rivista]
Drago, C.; Ricciuti, R.; Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

Until the banking reform in 1936, banks and industrial companies in Italy were strongly intertwined (both in terms of ownership and interlocking directorates). Using Imita.db – a large dataset containing data on over 300,000 directors of Italian joint stock companies – this paper analyses what would have happened to the Italian corporate network in the years 1913, 1921, 1927 and 1936 if the German type universal banks and their directors would have not been there. Our test shows that new centers of the system would have emerged (financial and electricity and phone companies), confirming the interconnected nature of the Italian capitalism. We also analyze two industries, textiles and iron and steel, characterized by different labor-to-capital intensities to check for sectoral differences. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that local banks were important in funding both industries.

2017 - The Political Economy of Financing Italian Small Businesses [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Spadavecchia, Anna
abstract

This chapter discusses the political and economic rationales behind the structure of Italy's banking system and explores the system of medium-term credit and financial subsidies established in the country to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which were viewed as an important component of the Italian economy by the end of WW2. It has also explained how major political parties, as well as economic institutions such as the Bank of Italy, agreed to foster SMEs. This led to the establishment of a fragmented banking system, in which local banks were preserved to serve the needs of SMEs clustered in local production systems, and to the establishment of the medium-term credit institutes (the Mediocrediti and the Artigiancassa) which provided additional financial support to SMEs and to artisan firms.

2016 - International financial flows, domestic banks, and the economic development of the periphery: Italy 1861-1913 [Working paper]
Di Martino, P.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of financing (foreign capital, migrants’ remittances, and domestic banks intermediation) on economic development in Italy between 1861 and WWI. Existing literature has analysed the role of these channels of financial intermediation separately, while this paper for the first time considers them in conjunction. Using IRF from a Cholesky identification structure of a VAR model and relying on an original dataset that combines the most recent series of several financial and economic aggregates, this paper shows that both international capital and domestic saving had a significant impact on investment, while remittances did not. Foreign capital was invested directly, but also via domestic banks, in particular the “German-style” universal banks. Finally, foreign and d omestic capital had different attitudes towards the types of investment (construction vs. plant, machinery and transport equipment) and industries they financed. Combined together, these results shed a new light on the process of economic development of Italy and, more generally, of peripheral economies in the age of the international gold standard.

2016 - International financial flows, domestic banks, and the economic development of the periphery:Italy, 1861-1913 [Working paper]
Di Martino, P.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of financing (foreign capital, migrants’ remittances, and domestic banks intermediation) on economic development in Italy between 1861 and WWI. Existing literature has analysed the role of these channels of financial intermediation separately, while this paper for the first time considers them in conjunction. Using IRF from a Cholesky identification structure of a VAR model and relying on an original dataset that combines the most recent series of several financial and economic aggregates, this paper shows that both international capital and domestic saving had a significant impact on investment, while remittances did not. Foreign capital was invested directly, but also via domestic banks, in particular the “German-style” universal banks. Finally, foreign and domestic capital had different attitudes towards the types of investment (construction vs. plant, machinery and transport equipment) and industries they financed. Combined together, these results shed a new light on the process of economic development of Italy and, more generally, of peripheral economies in the age of the international gold standard.

2016 - L'industrializzazione del territorio modenese [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo lavoro ricostruisce la storia dell'industrializzazione della provincia di Modena nel Novecento, con particolare riferimento ai suoi distretti industriali.

2016 - The only way to grow? Italian Business groups in historical perspective [Articolo su rivista]
Colli, A.; Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

This article analyses the dynamics of business groups (BG) formation and diffusion in Italy in the twentieth century. It shows that BGs is not an organisational form which characterizes only developing countries or economies in their very early stage of development. Indeed, in its evolution from a peripheral country to one of the most advanced economies, Italy has been constantly populated by BGs. One striking feature of the Italian corporate system is that BGs are present not only among large firms, but also in almost all the other forms of enterprise: cooperative firms, municipalised companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and fast-growing medium-sized firms. Thus, BG seems to be the ‘only way to grow’ for Italian firms or, at least, the easiest way to reach a reasonable size. BG as a governance system looks particularly flexible, adapting itself to different ownership, market conditions and local contexts. In absence of obstacles of legal or fiscal nature, this flexibility is probably the main reason for its resilience.

2016 - The only way to grow? Italian business groups in historical perspective [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
A., Colli; Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

The evolution of Italian capitalism during the 20th century has been characterized by the presence of different forms of enterprise which have typified different phases of the country’s economic growth process. Considering a set of dimensions such as size, performance, legal forms, types of ownership and governance, Colli and Vasta (2010) identified seven different forms of enterprise: 1) big business; 2) state-owned enterprises; 3) foreign-controlled companies; 4) medium-sized firms; 5) small firms operating in local production system; 6) municipalized firms, which provide services within an administrative county or a homogeneous geographical areas; 7) co-operative firms which – originally proposed as an alternative to capitalist corporation and characterized by a peculiar governance structure – has assumed a growing importance in the Italian economy in the last three decades. Some of these forms of enterprise are strictly specific to the Italian case: small firms, co-operatives and municipalized companies correspond, in their diffusion, form and structure, to the particular set of social and institutional conditions which characterized 20th century Italy. Conversely, for other forms, such as big business and foreign-controlled firms, the Italian case is not particularly different from that of the other industrialized nations, at least in term of specialization and market concentration. However, Italian big business remained sharply different from its American and European counterparts as regards the degree of internationalization, the ownership and organizational structures, and the governance practices. A pervasive presence of business groups is a common trait to all the forms of enterprise we have identified in Italian capitalism. However, we argue that business groups are not a static component of the Italian industrial landscape. The rationale for their existence constantly changes over time according to the technological and institutional changes. Thus, this paper, by enlarging the focus of a previous article (Colli and Vasta, forthcoming) to various forms of enterprises, analyze, on one hand, the dynamics of business group formation and, on another hand, the different logics which emerge within all different forms of enterprise. Moreover, it provides a “new” taxonomy of groups’ typologies and discusses the reasons at the origin of the choice of the group as a governance mechanism alternative to the multidivisional form and, more generally, to the Anglo-Saxon capitalism model. Finally, we argue that the business group as a governance system looks particularly flexible, adapting itself to different ownership and market conditions. In absence of obstacles of legal or fiscal nature, this flexibility is probably the main reason for its resilience. The persistence of business groups in the Italian economy confirms that this peculiar form of business organization is neither limited to the less developed countries, nor simply a "second-best" substitute of the multidivisional form diffused in the liberal market economies.

2015 - Capital inflows, current accounts and the investment cycle in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Relying on a new dataset, this paper examines the genesis of current account fluctuations and the investment cycle in Italy. We perform a Granger causality test that shows that the persistent current account deficits in the years from unification to World War I were generated by variations in capital inflows, as hypothesized by Fenoaltea, and not by the dynamics of GDP, as in the Bonelli-Cafagna model. Finally, we show that these capital inflows prompted an industrial investment cycle in equipment and machinery but not - as claimed by Fenoaltea (1988) - a general investment cycle which included also construction and more volatile components of investment. These patterns held under both fixed and floating exchange rate regimes.

2015 - Government expenditure and economic development: evidence from Italy 1862-2009 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.; Salsano, F.
abstract

Using a new historical dataset over the time period 1862-2009, this paper tests the validity of Wagner’s Law of public spending (WL) in Italy. To this aim, cointegration and Granger causation are used to investigate the long run relationship between GDP and government expenditure. Moreover, DOLS method is applied to estimate consistent long run elasticity between these two variables. In contrast to previous studies, we evaluate WL for both total government expenditure and some specific items of spending. Our main findings are that WL does not hold in the long run for total government expenditure. However, we find strong support for WL in the shorter time span from 1862 to the end of the 19th century. Here WL is confirmed as regards both total government expenditure and all the specific items of spending we have considered. Conversely, in the post-Second World War years, WL holds only for capital expenditure, compensation of employees, justice and national security, welfare and redistribution by the state. Thus, it seems that Italy invested a great deal and for a long period in infrastructures, justice, national security, and welfare, and less in items such as education and culture that play a paramount role in the formation of human capital.

2015 - Institutions, Politics, and the Corporate Economy [Articolo su rivista]
Colli, Andrea; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This article has shown that Italy’s industrial structure, in international comparison, is characterized by an overwhelming presence of SMEs in terms of employment and, conversely, by a limited weight of large fi rms. SMEs are concentrated mostly in the “made-in-Italy” industries. Conversely, the weakness of big business led Italy to cover a smaller share of the high-tech and large-scale sectors than the other advanced economies. This peculiar industrial structure seems to be the outcome of a long-term evolution of Italian capitalism, which has been only partially modifi ed by two novelties that occurred in recent years: the rise of MSEs and the increased weight of foreign-owned firms. Italy’s peculiar industrial structure is only in part the result of entrepreneurial failures of big business and of the dynamism of small entrepreneurs, as institutions were a key factor in determining the contrasting performances of big businesses and small fims. Formal institutions were unsatisfactory in all the areas in which big business could be supported: technological leadership, internationalization, human capital, and corporate fi nance. As a result, Italian large firms grew protected in the domestic market, strong and in a monopolistic position at home but relatively small and weak in the international markets. Conversely, after World War II, formal institutions fostered the small fi rm sector through a variety of measures: artisanship policy, subsidized credit to SMEs, banking and labor market regulation, and insolvency legislation. Such an anti-private big business stance of formal institutions is largely the consequence of the deeper infl uence of informal institutions, in particular the failed hegemony of big business and corporate values on the Italian society and the consequent disconnection of the corporate elite from the political elite throughout most, if not all, of Italy’s post-unifi cation history. Thus, the weakness of large companies in Italy is also the consequence of the fact that, differently from other advanced industrial nations such as the United States, Italy failed to create a modern industrial democracy characterized by the leadership of big business and corporate values.

2015 - La spesa pubblica in Italia: una crescita senza limiti? [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.; Salsano, F.
abstract

Using new historical data, this paper evaluates Wagner’s Law in Italy over the time period from 1862 to 2009. To this aim, cointegration and Granger causation are used to investigate the long run relationship between government expenditure and GDP. Moreover, DOLS method is applied to estimate consistent long run elasticity between these two variables. Our main findings are that Wagner’s Law does not hold in the long run for total government expenditure. However, we find strong support for Wagner’s Law in the shorter time span from 1862 to the end of the 19th century. Such a result seems the consequence of state-building after Italy’s political unification. The new-born Italian state made a huge effort to create nation-wide infrastructures (i.e., railways, telegraph, mail, and so on) as well as an administrative structure well-ramified throughout the country. Conversely, evidence in support of Wagner’s Law is weaker in the period following WW2. Now Wagner’s Law is not verified for total government expenditure, but only for social spending, infrastructure spending, and spending for subsidies to the economy. This seems the consequence of the expansion of income-elastic cultural and welfare expenditures that were demanded to the state.

2015 - The political economy of financing local production in Italy, 1950-1990s [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Spadavecchia, Anna
abstract

Francesca Carnevali’s work stressed the key role of politics and institutions in determining a country’s banking structure, which in turn shapes its industrial structure. Segmented banking systems in France, Germany and Italy allowed different types of banks to specialize in different market segments, ensuring the fulfilment of smaller firms’ financial requirements. In Britain, local banks did not survive the wave of amalgamation of the 1960s. This void left small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and banks facing high transaction costs on the credit market due to little – or even an absence of – knowledge of the local business environment. Focusing on the Italian case this paper discusses how major parties in the political spectrum, as well as economic institutions such as the Bank of Italy, agreed to foster SMEs after the Second World War. This led to the establishment of a segmented banking system, in which local banks were preserved to serve the financial needs of SMEs clustered in local production systems. Then the paper moves on to explore the establishment of the medium-credit institutes (the Mediocrediti and the Artisan Bank) and their provision of additional financial support to SMEs and to artisan firms.

2014 - A note on Italy's current account sustainability: 1861-2010 [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Pistoresi, Barbara
abstract

By using an original dataset, this paper analyzes the sustainability of Italy's current accounts over the years 1861-2010. We find empirical support to sustainability: the Italian economy used external deficits (surpluses) to smooth aggregate consumption. Persistent current account deficits from 1861 to WW1 seem to have been used to prompt the nation's productivity and economic efficiency and so they do not seem to have undermined the nation's intertemporal solvency.

2014 - Capital Inflows, Current Accounts and Investment Cycle in Italy: 1861-1913 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

By relying on a new dataset, this paper presents an econometric strategy to test the Fenoaltea’s thesis with regard to both the genesis of current account fluctuations and of the investment cycle. We perform a Granger causality test that shows that the persistent current account deficits in the years from unification from WW1 were generated by variations in capital inflows, as pointed by Fenoaltea, and not by the dynamics of the GDP, as claimed by the Bonelli-Cafagna model. Finally, this paper supports the Fenoaltea’s thesis that these capital inflows prompted a general investment cycle which included both construction and industrial investments.

2014 - Il sistema delle piccole imprese [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

L’Emilia-Romagna è un caso paradigmatico di sviluppo industriale basato sulle piccole e medie imprese, che a partire dagli anni ‘80 ha attirato ha attirato l’attenzione di numerosi studiosi italiani e stranieri. Questo paper analizza il ruolo del sistema delle piccole e medie imprese nell’economia della regione. Dopo avere tracciato un breve profilo della dinamica e delle caratteristiche strutturali dell’industrializzazione della regione, il paper ripercorre le varie tappe del dibattito sul ruolo dell’impresa minore nell’economia emiliano-romagnola: dalle posizioni della teoria economica dell’immediato dopoguerra che la vedevano come irrimediabilmente arretrata ed inefficiente, all’originale proposta di Togliatti di un’alleanza strategica tra la classe operaia e i ceti medi produttivi, al dibattito sul decentramento produttivo, alla scoperta dei distretti industriali sino all’emergere negli anni recenti delle imprese leader distrettuali e delle medie imprese del «quarto capitalismo». The Emilia-Romagna region is an exemplary case of industrial development based on systems of small and medium-sized enterprises. Since the 1980s it has become a common reference in the international debate on Post-Fordism. This paper analyzes the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of region’s economy. After presenting a short profile of the dynamics and structural features of the region’s industrialization, the paper reconstructs the debate among economists and politicians about the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Emilian economy: from the dominant positions in the mid-20th century economic theory that saw them as unavoidably backward and inefficient, to Togliatti’s innovative proposal for a strategic alliance between the working class and the small entrepreneurs, the debate on productive decentralization, the discovery of industrial districts up to the more recent analysis on the rise of district lead firms and medium-sized firms of the «fourth capitalism».

2014 - Panini [Voce in Dizionario o Enciclopedia]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questa voce presenta la biografia degli imprenditori modenesi fratelli Panini

2014 - Persistent and stubborn: the state in Italian capitalism [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, Michelangelo
abstract

This chapter analyses the structure of the Italian corporate network from 1913 to 2001 using network analysis technique. This chapter focuses on seven benchmark years: 1913, 1927, 1936, 1960, 1972, 1983, and 2001. For each benchmark year, the top 250 companies by total assets have been selected. The chapter reveals some distinct phases in the evolution of the network, consequent on some major institutional break-ups and the emergence of the technological paradigm of the third industrial revolution in the 1970s. A persistent presence of state-owned enterprises stands out as one of the major features of Italian capitalism.

2014 - The evolution of corporate n networks in Latin economies: Argentina and Italy compared (1913-1990) [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
A., Lluch; Rinaldi, Alberto; E., Salvaj; M., Vasta
abstract

This paper analyses the evolution of the corporate networks in two Latin economies – Argentina and Italy – from 1913 to 1990 by using the interlocking directorates’ technique. The paper focuses on six benchmark years: 1914 (1913 for Italy); 1923 (1927), 1936 (1937), 1954 (1952), 1970 (1972), and 1990 (1983). For each benchmark year, the largest 25 banks and 100 industrial companies have been selected for each country. For each benchmark year, after showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and the directors included in the sample, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system in the two countries. This is integrated by historical and structural analysis. For the first time in corporate networks’ historical analyses, this paper includes syndics – special auditors for firms – as well as directors in the sample. This paper shows that, despite both Argentina and Italy belong to the same legal family, their corporate networks show a different structure and evolution over time. Also the actors that shaped the overall structure of the two corporate networks are different: in Argentina a major role was played foreign multinationals, while in Italy the crucial actors were banks and state-owned enterprises.

2013 - A counterfactual analysis of the bank-industry relationship in Italy, 1913-1936 [Working paper]
Drago, C.; Ricciuti, R.; Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

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 what would have happened to the Italian corporate network in the years 1913, 1921, 1927 and 1936 if the “mixed banks” and their directors would have not been there. Our experiments show that new centers of the system would have emerged (financial and electricity and phone companies), confirming the interconnected nature of the Italian capitalism. We also analyze two industries, textiles and iron and steel, characterized by different labor-to-capital intensities to check for sectoral differences. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that local banks were important in funding both industries. Overall we call into question the role of mixed banks. Keywords:

2013 - External constraint and economic growth in Italy: 1861-2000 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between external constraint and economic growth in Italy from 1861 to 2000. In particular, it investigates whether the persistent current account deficits in the 1861-1913 years constrained output growth. To this aim it studies the genesis of the current account fluctuations, that is whether these were generated by the dynamics of the GDP or by variations in capital inflows. Using integration and co-integration analysis and the Granger causality testing, it shows that in the long run Italy’s external position is sustainable: the Italian economy seems to have used the external deficits (surpluses) to smooth its aggregate consumption. Moreover in the shorter 1861-1913 sub-period, the persistent current account deficits, financed by foreign capital inflows, do not seem to have curbed economic growth. JEL

2013 - External constraint and economic growth in Italy: 1861-2000 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between external constraint and economic growth in Italy from 1861 to 2000. In particular, it investigates whether the persistent current account deficits in the 1861-1913 years constrained output growth. To this aim it studies the genesis of the current account fluctuations, that is whether these were generated by the dynamics of the GDP or by variations in capital inflows. Using integration and co-integration analysis and the Granger causality testing, it shows that in the long run Italy’s external position is sustainable: the Italian economy seems to have used the external deficits (surpluses) to smooth its aggregate consumption. Moreover in the shorter 1861-1913 sub-period, the persistent current account deficits, financed by foreign capital inflows, do not seem to have curbed economic growth.

2013 - From Hilferding to Hilferding? Finance-capital in Italian capitalism, 1913-2010 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

This paper analyses the Italian corporate network from 1913 to 2010 by using the interlocking directorates technique and focusing on eight benchmark years (1913, 1927, 1936, 1960, 1972, 1983, 2001, and 2010). For each benchmark year, the top 250 companies (50 financial and 200 non financial companies) by total assets have been selected. For each benchmark year, after showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and the directors included in the sample, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a historical and structural analysis. The paper reveals some distinct phases in the long term evolution of the Italian corporate network, consequent on some major institutional break-ups (the crisis of the German-type universal banks and the creation of large state-owned sector of the economy in the early 1930s; the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1962; a massive privatisation of state-owned enterprises and a reform of the banking system in the 1990s) and the emergence of the technological trajectory of the third industrial revolution in the 1970s. In particular, the paper shows that one major consequence of the privatizations and of the reform of the banking system in the 1990s was a return of banks in a central position in the network from which they had disappeared after the collapse of the universal banks in the 1930s.

2013 - Il sistema delle piccole e medie imprese in Emilia-Romagna nel Novecento [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo lavoro ripercorre la storia dell'industrializzazione dell'Emilia-Romagna nel novecento, con particolare riguardo al ruolo delle piccole e medie imprese.

2013 - Institutions, politics and the corporate economy [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Colli, Andrea; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

The aim of this paper is analyse the impact of laws and institutions more in general in shaping the features of Italian capitalism. The paper starts with a snapshot of the Italian productive system in 2011 by looking at firms size, field of activity, ownership, and the structure of governance in a comparative perspective. The picture is than re-proposed for 1961 and 1911. On the basis of this information the paper looks at the following elements: 1) Continuity and changes over time;2) The impact of the features of the Italian capitalism on the country international competitiveness; 3) The non-institutional causes of continuity and change, for example the structure and dimension of the market; 4) The role of the state and, more in general, the impact of political elements in the incentives towards given governance structures or dimensions of firms; 5) The function plaid by rules and regulation in the areas of finance, labour, and firms governance.

2013 - Italy's current account sustainability: a long run perspective, 1861-2000 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper analyzes the sustainability of Italy’s current accounts from 1861 to 2000. Whether or not we find empirical support to sustainability depends on the statistical condition of stationarity of the current account series. Non stationarity of the current accounts implies the economy has violated its intertemporal budget constraint. Unit root tests to study the stationarity of Italy’s current accounts suggest that in the long run (1861 to 2000) Italy’s external position was sustainable: the Italian economy seems to have used the external deficits (surpluses) to smooth its aggregate consumption. The persistent current account deficits in the shorter 1861-1913 period were generated by foreign capital inflows that allowed investment to rise and, in turn, to prompt the nation’s productivity and economic efficiency. Therefore, they do not seem to have curbed economic growth.

2013 - L. Segreto, I Feltrinelli. Storia di una dinastia imprenditoriale (1854-1942), Feltrinelli, Milano, 2011 [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This is a review of Luciano Segreto's well-mastered book on the history of the influential Italian business dynasty, the Feltrinellis

2013 - Una sfida al capitalismo italiano: Giuseppe Luraghi, Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori, 2012 [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This is the review of the book by D. Pozzi, Una sfida al capitalismo italiano: Giuseppe Luraghi, Marsilio Editori, Venice, 2012

2012 - Exports, imports and growth. New evidence on Italy: 1863-2004 [Articolo su rivista]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

The nexus between trade and economic growth in Italy has been widely debated byhistoriography. However, there are not long run analysis on this topic that cover the whole span fromUnification to present days. This paper contributes to fill this gap by investigating the relationshipbetween real exports, imports and GDP in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis andcausality tests. The outcome suggests that these variables comove in the long run but the direction ofcausality varies across time. In the period prior to the First World War import growth led GDP growththat in turn led export growth. Conversely, in the post-Second World War period we have a strongbidirectionality between imports and exports consequent on the increase in intra-industry trade. Wealso find a weak support for export-led growth and growth-led imports. This suggests that exportswere not the only or the main driver of economic growth. There was probably a multiplicity of factorsat work, among which high rates of capital formation and the expansion of internal demand probablystood out.

2012 - Il sistema delle piccole e medie imprese e il “modello Emilia” [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

The Emilia-Romagna region is an exemplary case of industrial development based on systems of small and medium-sized enterprises. Since the 1980s it has become a common reference in the international debate on PostFordism. This paper analyzes the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the development of region’s economy. After presenting a short profile of the dynamics and structural features of the region’s industrialization, the paper reconstructs the debate among economists and politicians about the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Emilian economy: from the dominant positions in the mid-20th century economic theory that saw them as unavoidably backward and inefficient, to Togliatti’s innovative proposal for a strategic alliance between the working class and the small entrepreneurs, the debate on productive decentralization, the discovery of industrial districts up to the more recent analysis on the rise of district lead firms and medium-sized firms of the «forth capitalism».

2012 - Institutions, Politics and the Corporate Economy [Working paper]
A., Colli; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Over the century and a half since its unification, Italy caught up with the most advanced economies. Such a result was achieved in the presence of an industrial structure which is in many respects unique in international perspective and characterized by a dominance of small firms and a marginal role of large firms. In the last twenty years, however, this pattern seems to have come to a halt. In this paper we explore the determinants of such a dynamic in the long run. The focus will be on the role played by institutions in forging an array of industrial policies in place over the last 150 years which determined the process of convergence and, more recently, of divergence in big business, and the outstanding, constant presence of a small business sector far beyond the average of the most advanced countries among which Italy is still considered to be.

2012 - Persistent and stubborn. The state in the Italian capitalism: 1913-2001 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

This paper analyses the structure of the Italian corporate network from 1913 to 2001 by using the interlocking directorates technique. The paper focuses on seven benchmark years: 1913, 1927, 1936, 1960, 1972, 1983, and 2001. For each benchmark year, the top 250 companies (50 financials and 200 non financials) by total assets have been selected. For each benchmark year, after showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and the directors included in the sample, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a historical and structural analysis. The paper reveals some distinct phases in the long term evolution of Italian capitalism, consequent on some major institutional break-ups (the crisis of the German-type universal banks and the creation of a large state-owned sector in the economy in the early 1930s; the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1962; a massive privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the 1990s) and the emergence of the technological trajectory of the third industrial revolution in the 1970s. However, a trait featuring Italian capitalism throughout all these phases is the persistent presence of state-owned enterprises amongst the nation’s largest companies

2012 - Piccole e medie imprese nel modello emiliano: uno sguardo storico [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

L’Emilia-Romagna è un caso paradigmatico di sviluppo industriale basato sulle piccole e medie imprese, che a partire dagli anni ‘80 ha attirato ha attirato l’attenzione di numerosi studiosi italiani e stranieri. Questo paper analizza il ruolo del sistema delle piccole e medie imprese nell’economia della regione. Dopo avere tracciato un breve profilo della dinamica e delle caratteristiche strutturali dell’industrializzazione della regione, il paper ripercorre le varie tappe del dibattito sul ruolo dell’impresa minore nell’economia emiliano-romagnola: dalle posizioni della teoria economica dell’immediato dopoguerra che la vedevano come irrimediabilmente arretrata ed inefficiente, all’originale proposta di Togliatti di un’alleanza strategica tra la classe operaia e i ceti medi produttivi, al dibattito sul decentramento produttivo, alla scoperta dei distretti industriali sino all’emergere negli anni recenti delle imprese leader distrettuali e delle medie imprese del «quarto capitalismo».

2012 - The Italian corporate network after the “Golden Age” (1972-83): From centrality to marginalization of State-owned enterprises [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

This article analyses the structure of the Italian corporate network in the decade that followed the end of the “Golden Age” (1972-83), when the transition from the technological trajectory of the second to that of the third industrial revolution began. The article is based on a large dataset, Imita.db, which contains data on more than 38,000 Italian joint-stock companies and about 300,000 directors, and uses both network analysis and a prosopographic approach. The main result is that the interval considered was marked by a sharp decrease in the degree of cohesion of the Italian corporate network. In 1972 the system was very cohesive and state-owned enterprises were well represented within the most central firms. In 1983 the cohesion of the system had sharply diminished; state-owned enterprises had disappeared from the centre and a new private centre, hinged on Mediobanca, the only merchant bank operating in the country, had emerged.

2011 - Exports and Italy's economic growth: a long-run perspective (1863-2004) [Working paper]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between real export and real GDP in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis and causality tests. The outcome suggests that these variables comove in the long run but the direction of causality depends on the level of economic development: in the period prior to WW1 the growth of the Italian economy led that of exports, while in the post-WW2 period the causal relationship was reversed with the expansion of exports that determined the growth of the Italian economy.

2011 - Exports and Italy’s Economic Development: a Long-Run Perspective (1863-2004) [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

2011 - Exports and Italy’s economic development: a long-run perspective (1863-2004) [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Pistoresi, B.
abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between real export and real GDP in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis and causality tests. The outcome suggests that these variables comove in the long run but the direction of causality depends on the level of economic development: in the period prior to WW1 the growth of the Italian economy led that of exports, while in the post-WW2 period the causal relationship was reversed with the expansion of exports that determined the growth of the Italian economy.

2011 - Exports, growth and causality. New evidence on Italy: 1863-2004 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between real exports and real GDP in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis and causality tests. The outcome suggests that these variables comove in the long run but the direction of causality depends on the level of economic development: in the period prior to WW1 the growth of the Italian economy led that of exports, while in the post-WW2 period the causal relationship was reversed with the expansion of exports that determined the growth of the Italian economy.

2011 - Exports, imports and growth. New evidence on Italy: 1863-2004 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

The nexus between trade and economic growth in Italy has been widely debated by historiography. However, there are not long run analysis on this topic that cover the whole span from Unification to present days. This paper contributes to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between real exports, imports and GDP in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis and causality tests. The outcome suggests that these variables comove in the long run but the direction of causality varies across time. In the period prior to the First World War import growth led GDP growth that in turn led export growth. Conversely, in the post-Second World War period we have a strong bidirectionality between imports and exports consequent on the increase in intra-industry trade. We also find a weak support for export-led growth and growth-led imports. This suggests that exports were not the only or the main driverof economic growth. There was probably a multiplicity of factors at work, among which high rates of capital formation and the expansion of internal demand probably stood out.

2011 - Il sistema di istruzione nella promozione dello sviluppo economico. Strategie pubbliche e interventi privati a Modena. [Working paper]
P., Mengoli; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Il presente lavoro analizza l’evoluzione del sistema educativo della provincia di Modena e il ruolo da essosvolto a sostegno dello sviluppo dell’economia locale dal 1945 ad oggi. Il periodo considerato ha visto unforte sviluppo della scolarizzazione di massa, che ha coinvolto in modo massiccio le classi socialisubalterne. Questo fenomeno è stato trainato dall’istruzione tecnica e professionale, che ha vistol’organizzazione di scuole di eccellenza: sia negli indirizzi industriali che in quelli amministrativi. Glieffetti sul sistema della imprese locali sono stati imponenti. A partire dagli anni Sessanta, i diplomatitecnici e professionali hanno sostenuto e favorito lo sviluppo dei distretti industriali manifatturieri, inparticolare della meccanica, sia come lavoratori dipendenti che come lavoratori autonomi ed imprenditori.Tuttavia, a cavallo tra gli anni Ottanta e Novanta, il meccanismo virtuoso che metteva in stretto legamel’istruzione tecnica e professionale dei giovani modenesi con il mondo delle imprese, sembra essersi inparte inceppato. Il punto di maggiore criticità appare non tanto una insufficiente quantità di diplomati, mala loro qualità meno capace che in passato di soddisfare le esigenze delle imprese.This work analyses the evolution of the education system in the province of Modena and its role infostering the development of the local economy from 1945 to present days. The period investigated wascharacterised by a massive growth in schooling (and in particular in secondary schooling) that involved toa great extent the lower social classes. This increase in secondary schooling was pulled by technicaleducation. Modena became the seat of some of the best-ranked technical schools in Italy, both in theindustrial and in the commercial courses. Since the 1960s, graduates from technical school nurtured thelocal society with competences that prompted the development of some thriving industrial districts,especially in mechanical engineering, both as skilled workers and as entrepreneurs. However, since thelate 1980s, the virtuous circle that linked local technical school to local development seems to have atleast in part jammed. The main problem does not seem to be a shortage of graduates but a lower quality oftheirs which makes them less apt than in the past to meet the demand of local firms.

2011 - L'impresa agricola a Formigine. Il contesto modenese e nazionale [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo lavoro analizza i caratteri dell'agricoltura del comune di Formigine nei decenni intorno all'Unità nazionale in una prospettiva comparata con la provincia di Modena e l'Italia nel suo complesso.

2011 - The Italian Corporate Network, 1913-2001 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

This paper analyses the Italian corporate network from 1913 to 2001 by using the interlocking directorates technique and focusing on seven benchmark years (1913, 1927, 1936, 1960, 1972, 1983, and 2001). For each benchmark year, the top 250 companies (50 financial and 200 non financial companies) by total assets have been selected. For each benchmark year, After showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and the directors included in the sample, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a historical and structural analysis. The paper reveals some distinct phases in the long term evolution of the Italian corporate network, consequent on some major institutional break-ups (the crisis of the German-type universal banks and the creation of large state-owned sector of the economy in the early 1930s; the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1962; a massive privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the 1990s) and the emergence of the technological trajectory of the third industrial revolution in the 1970s.

2011 - Transnational social capital and FDI. Evidence from Italian associations worldwide [Working paper]
Murat, M.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

Emigrant associations abroad are structured nodes of social networks; they are manifestations of a transnational social capital. Italian associations are numerous, spread across several countries, in some cases they exist since the end of the nineteenth century, and may count on high numbers of members. Also, they are robustly tied to the home country. This paper assesses the effects of Italian associations abroad on the bilateral FDI between Italy and the countries of settlement of Italian diaspora. The main results are that these effects are positive and strongly significant, especially for the inward FDI and relatively to the countries with the oldest associations

2011 - Transnational social capital and FDI. Evidence from Italian associations worldwide [Articolo su rivista]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper studies the influence of a country’s transnational social capital - defined as the shared customary values and beliefs of emigrant communities - on its external transactions. It usesItaly’s emigrant associations abroad as a proxy of transnational social capital and measures its effects on Italy’s bilateral FDI. Our results are that the associative activity of emigrants, which partly dates far back into the past, positively and strongly affects the Italian bilateral FDI, especially concerning the countries hosting the older associations and the FDI into Italy.

2011 - Transnational social capital and FDI.Evidence from Italian associations worldwide [Working paper]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Emigrant associations abroad are nodal points of social networks; they are manifestations of a transnational social capital. Italian associations are numerous, spread across several countries, in some cases they exist since the end of the nineteenth century, and may count on high numbers of members. Also, they are robustly tied to the home country. This paper assesses the effects of Italian associations abroad on the bilateral FDI between Italy and the countries of settlement of Italian diaspora. The main results are that these effects are positive and strongly significant, especially for the inward FDI and relatively to the countries with the oldest associations.

2011 - Workshop Istruzione e sviluppo economico a Modena nel Novecento, “150 Modena. 1861-2011: 150° Anniversario dell’Unità d’Italia” (Modena, 26 maggio 2011) [WORKSHOP] [Altro]
P., Mengoli; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Il seminario affronterà l’evoluzione del rapporto tra il sistema educativo e il sistema economico nella provincia di Modena nel secolo scorso, soffermando l’attenzione in particolare sul secondo dopo guerra. Le relazioni virtuose tra il sistema educativo e il sistema economico sono state particolarmente evidenti nell’industria e più specificamente nel settore meccanico. È anche grazie a tali relazioni che nella provincia di Modena si è sviluppata una fitta rete di imprese industriali, tra le quali spiccano le imprese meccaniche per qualità e ampiezza delle loro relazioni internazionali. La riflessione sulle caratteristiche di queste relazioni virtuose, in occasione delle celebrazioni del centcinquantesimo anniversario dell’unità d’Italia, è uno stimolo per considerare i problemi derivanti dal processo di riposizionamento della scuola e delle imprese, nel contesto locale, nazionale e internazionale in continua evoluzione e cambiamento. Il tema è centrale sotto molteplici aspetti e coinvolge molteplici dimensioni: economiche, sociali, istituzionali, tecnologiche, culturali, storiche e pedagogico-didattiche.Alcuni testimoni privilegiati del mondo dell’educazione e alcuni impegnati a viario titolo nelle imprese saranno invitati a dare un contributo. Da una parte si cercheranno descrizioni di come il sistema educativo modenese si è evoluto, producendo cambiamenti significativi nel livello di alfabetizzazione e nel livello culturale della popolazione oltre che nel livello di qualificazione delle forze di lavoro. Le competenze che il sistema educativo è stato capace di creare ed offrire al mercato del lavoro locale saranno descritte anche da chi nelle imprese ne hanno potuto profittare per promuovere innovazioni, crescita e sviluppo. Verrà data la parola alle scuole secondarie superiori della provincia, partendo dagli istituti tecnici “storici” (come il Corni ed il Barozzi) perché possano raccontare la loro evoluzione e ricostruire le tappe più significative della loro crescita.La provincia di Modena ha cambiato radicalmente la sua fisionomia nel corso del Novecento. Da una realtà prevalentemente agricola, caratterizzata da una preponderanza di contadini, mezzadri e braccianti, divisa nelle porzioni territoriali della montagna, della pianura e delle piccole città oltre al capoluogo, in origine del secolo ancora cinto dalle mura medievali, si è passati con accelerazione impressionante nel secondo dopoguerra ad una delle aree più sviluppate e ricche del continente europeo. A distanza di centocinquant’anni dall’unità d’Italia la provincia è capace di confrontarsi e competere con i più importanti distretti industriali del continente.Uno degli elementi centrali di questo sviluppo è stato il grande sviluppo dell’istruzione che può essere diviso in due fasi: la fase dell’alfabetizzazione e la fase successiva in cui al processo di alfabetizzazione e acculturamento si è affiancata la fase della qualificazione professionale di fasce sempre più ampie di popolazione. La prima fase è comune all’intero paese e si sviluppa fino al momento in cui viene fissata la riforma della scuola media unica. La seconda fase presenta, invece, caratteri peculiari che caratterizzano questa provincia insieme a poche altre nel paese. Dal secondo dopoguerra, in particolare a partire dagli anni Sessanta, si è registrato un forte sviluppo della scolarizzazione di massa, che ha coinvolto in modo massiccio le classi sociali subalterne, fino a quel momento escluse dalla prosecuzione degli studi non obbligatori. Tale massiccia partecipazione alla scolarità secondaria superiore da parte dei giovani modenesi è stato possibile innanzitutto attraverso lo sviluppo dell’istruzione tecnica e professionale. Gli istituti professionali permettevano una partecipazione al ciclo secondario superiore più breve, perché consentivano a chi si trovava in situazioni economiche svantaggiate di

2010 - Colture e paesaggio agrario a Nonantola dalla fine del Settecento all'Età Giolittiana [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce il profilo evolutivo dell'agricoltura nel comune di Nonantola tra la fine del settecento e l'età giolittiana, con particolare riferimento alle trasformazioni interventute nelle rotazioni colturali e nel paesaggio agrario.

2010 - Economia [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio tratta della storia dell'economia carpigiana tra la caduta dell'ancien regime e lo scoppio della prima guerra mondiale. Particolare attenzione è dedicata all'analisi delle trasformazioni intervenute nell'agricoltura e nel settore manifatturiero, e al ruolo nascita della cooperazione.

2010 - Exports,growth and causality. New evidence on Italy: 1863-2004 [Working paper]
Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper investigates the causal relationship between export and economic growth in Italy from 1863 to 2004 by using cointegration analysis and causality tests. The outcome suggests that in the period prior to WW1 the growth of the Italian economy led that of exports, while in the post-WW2 period the causal relationship was reversed with the expansion of exports that determined the growth of the Italian economy.

2010 - Giacomo Becattini, Marco Bellandi, and Lisa De Propris (eds.), A Handbook of Industrial Districts, Cheltenham, UK-Northampton, MA, USA, Ewdard Elgar, 2009 [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

2010 - Industrial Policy and Artisan Firms (1930s-1970s) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; G. M., Longoni
abstract

This essay shows that after WW2 the Italian state carried out a policy for artisanship (that is, for the smallest firms) of an extent that was unparalleled in Europe. This policy was based on the provision, on the one hand, of lower taxes and and employers' contributions as well as welfare benefits at reduced premiums and, on the other hand, of 'substitutive factors': soft loans, srevices and promotional initiative by state agencies. Such a policy for artisanship played a twofold role: partly 'defensive', protecting a segment of marginal firms, and partly 'proactive', prompting modernisation and innovation of more promising firms. The latter were clustered especially in the industrial districts of the centre and north-east of the country, whose development turned out to be boosted to a significant extent by state intervention.

2010 - The rise of a district lead firm: The case of Wam (1968-2003) [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

In recent times one major evolution in several industrial districts in Italy has been the emergence of new hierarchical structures with the rise of lead firms. These are firms that - contrary to canonical district firms which tend to remain small - pursue size growth, invest in marketing, distribution and R&D, reorganize subcontracting networks, and become international by establishing commercial subsidiaries and production facilities abroad. However, lead firms' histories remain largely unexplored. This article contributes to fill this gap by examining the case of one of such lead firms: Wam, a company set up in 1968 in the mechanical engineering district of Modena, which at the beginning of the 21st century had become the world leader in the production of bulk material handling and dust filtration machinery. This paper in particulra focuses on the strategy of growth and internationalisation that this company has pursued and its effects in both the host nations and in its Italian industrial district of origin

2009 - Italian Diaspora and Foreign Direct Investment: A cliometric perspective [Articolo su rivista]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Recent economic literature highlights that migrant networks help to overcome the informal barriers that exist in the international markets and boost international investment. Empirical studies on different countries confirm this prediction. This paper estimates (OLS-IV) an econometric model to study the impact of both emigration and immigration on Italy’s bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI). The main result is that only the Italian diaspora has a significant positive effect on Italy’s both inward and outward FDI. A theoretical framework, a profile of the diaspora and of immigration in Italy and some exemplary entrepreneurial histories help to interpret the econometric evidence.

2009 - La cooperazione agraria in Italia fra le due guerre [Articolo su rivista]
Giuntini, Andrea; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce la storia della cooperazione agraria in Italia negli anni tra le due guerre mondiali. Differentemente dalla nota tesi di Basevi secondo cui il regime fascista in Italia avrebbe portato ad una "contrazione" della cooperazione, questo lavoro sostiene che - almeno nel caso del settore in oggetto - il fascismo puntò, piuttosto che a ridimensionare la cooperazione, ad assumerne il controllo, snaturandone la funzione originaria e ad asservirla agli scopi dello stato corporativo.

2009 - Le politiche statali per l'artigianato in Italia (1945-1985) [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
G. M., Longoni; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

L'Italia è, tra i paesi industrializzati, quello con la proporzione più elevata di addetti occupati in imprese piccole e piccolissime. Questo saggio sostiene che un ruolo importante nel determinare la formazione di una struttura produzttiva siffatta è stato svolto dalle politiche pubbliche. In particolare, nel secondo dopoguerra lo stato ha creato un regime speciale per l'artigianato che ha subordinato l'accesso ad una vasto spettro di provvidenze pubbliche al non superamento di limiti dimensionali ben precisi fissati dalla legge. In questo modo, le politiche per l'artigianato, anziché stimolare la crescita dimensionale delle imprese sovvenute, hanno finito per fungere da incentivo al mantenimento di una dimensione limitata.

2009 - Session Q-4: "European FDI and globalization: 1945-2005" - XV World Economic History Congress (Utrecht, 3rd to 7th August 2009) [CONGRESSO] [Altro]
Rinaldi, Alberto; A., Colli; K. E., Sluyterman
abstract

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has become a central issue in economic and business history. The flow of international (portfolio and direct) investments was a well-entrenched feature of the World economy already before WW1, to a such extension that it is possible to talk in this case of a "first globalization". However, it has been after WW2 and especially since the 1970s that the flow of FDI has gone through a rapid and sustained growth which has made it the driving force of today's globalization. As the available statistics clearly show, increasingly FDI have been directed to developed, market economies. In this framework, Europe assumed the role of one of the main home as well as host macro-regions for international investment activity.This session intends to analyse the evolutionary dynamics in European FDI from the end of WW2 to the present days. Thus, one relevant topic will be the role of the "Rome Treaty" and the European integration process in promoting the flow of international investments both between European countries and between Europe and other regions. The organizers of this session are also interested in receiving papers on the role of multinationals in prompting the European integration and their impact on national business systems. Papers focusing in historical perspective on any other issues relevant to the analysis of European FDI are welcome too, e.g.: levels and determinants of both inward and outward FDI; regional, sectoral and firm cases; and policy implications.

2009 - State-owned enterprises in the Italian corporate network, 1972-1983 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

An extensive and pervasive presence of state-owned enterprises represented a substantial peculiarity of Italian capitalism for a long time, from the 1930s to the end of the 20th century. Historiography stressed the relevance of state-owned enterprises for the development of capital-intensive industries but also argued that they might in some way have curbe dthe growth of the private sector of the economy. Recent research gave a detailed map of the extension of the major Italian state-owned groups. However, their links with private companies and, more generally, their role in the Italian corporate network remain largely unexplored. This paper explores this subject by using the interlocking directorates technique. In particular, this paper assesses Chiesi's thesis according to which in the mid-1970s the Italian corporate newtork was marked by the presence of two centres, one state-owned and the other private, which were clearly distinct one from the other. The analysis is based on the database Imita.db - which contains data on more than 300,000 Italian joint-stock companies - and focuses on the years 1972 and 1983. For both benchmark years the paper presents several indicators of network analysis and a prosopographic research. The paper argues that - contrary to the results obtained by Chiesi using a different sample - in 1972 the Italian corporate network was very cohesive and characterized by the presence of one large centre, comprising both the major private and state-owned companies. However, in 1983 a substantial change had occurred. The cohesion of the system had sharply decreased and state-owned enterprises had disappeared from its centre. Now the structure of the Italian corporate network seemed more in line with Chiesi's argument, with the presence of two distinct centres: one larger and private and the other smaller and state-owned, clearly disconnected one from the other.

2009 - The Rise of A District Lead Firm: The Case of Wam (1968-2003) [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

In recent times one major evolution in several industrial districts in Italy has been emergence of new hierarchical structures that led to the rise of lead firms. These are firms that – contrary to canonical district firms which tend to remain small – pursue size grow, invest in marketing, distribution and R&D, reorganize their subcontracting networks, and become international by establishing commercial subsidiaries and production facilities abroad. However, lead firms’ histories remain largely unexplored. This article contributes to fill this gap by examining the case of one of such lead firms: Wam, a company set up in 1968 in the mechanical engineering district of Modena, which at the beginning of the 21st century had become the world leader in the production of bulk material handling and dust filtration machinery. The article in particular focuses on the strategy of growth and internationalization that this company has pursued and its effects in both the host nations and in its Italian ID of origin.

2009 - The Rise of A District Lead Firm: The Case of Wam (1968-2007) [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

In recent years a major evolution in several industrial districts in Italy has been the emergence of new hierarchical structures that led to the rise of lead firms. These are firms that - contrary to canonical district firms which tend to remain small - pursue size growth, invest in marketing, distribution and R&D, reorganize their subcontracting networks, and become international by establishing commercial subsidiaries and production abroad. However, despite their increasing importance, lead firms' histories remain largely unexplored. This paper contributes to fill this gap by examining the case of one of such lead firms: Wam, a company set up in 1968 in the mechanical engineering district of Modena, which at the beginning of the 21st century had become the world leader in the production of bulk material handling and dust filtration machinery.

2009 - The Rise of a District Lead Firm: The Case of Wam (1968-2003) [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

In recent years a major evolution in several industrial districts in Italy has been the emergence of new hierarchical structures that led to the rise of lead firms. These are firms that - contrary to canonical district firms which tend to remain small - pursue size growth, invest in marketing, distribution and R&D, reorganize their subcontracting networks, and become international by establishing commercial subsidiaries and production abroad. However, despite their increasing importance, lead firms' histories remain largely unexplored. This paper contributes to fill this gap by examining the case of one of such lead firms: Wam, a company set up in 1968 in the mechanical engineering district of Modena, which at the beginning of the 21st century had become the world leader in the production of bulk material handling and dust filtration machinery.

2009 - Transnational Social Capital and FDI. Evidence from Italian Associations Worldwide [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Recent economic literature highlights that migrant networks help to overcome the informal barriers that exist in international markets and boost international investment. Stock or shares of immigrants by country of origin in the host country are the variable universally used as a proxy of networks. In this paper we propose a different measure of networks which is given by the associative activity of a given ethnic group in a wide number of foreign countries. Specifically, we utilize data on Italian associations abroad, with the idea that this variable has a finer explanatory power in generating the transnational social capital conducive to the formation of networks that prompt bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper estimates (OLS) an econometric model to study the impact of Italian associations abroad on Italy's bilateral FDI. The main result is that these associations have a significant positive effect on Italy's both inward and outward FDI. A theoretical framework, a historical profile of Italian associations abroad and one exemplary case help to interpret the econometric evidence.

2009 - Transnational Social Capital and FDI. Evidence from Italian Associations Worldwide [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper analizes the impact that one of the more important diasporas of modern history has had on the international transactions of its origin country, Italy. A diaspora is considered as a manifestation of social capital in an international context, and social capital is seen as the cultural traits that the ethnic group transmits from generation to generation and enable their members to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives. More specifically, it facilitates the circulation of information on economic opportunities in the country of origin and in the country of settlement. This information is valuable for firms and can boost bilateral trade and foreign direct investments (FDI). In particular, this paper assesses the impact of the transnational social capital of the Italian diaspora on Italy's bilateral FDI. On that purpose, it estimates (OLS) an econometric model which uses Italian associations abroad as a proxy of the diaspora's social capital. The main result is that this variable has a significant positive effect on Italy's both inward and outward FDI. This paper also reconstructs a historical profile of Italian associations aborad and examines in detail how one of these opearted, prompting connections among members of the diaspora and establishing links with the home country.

2008 - I distretti industriali italiani a specializzazione metalmeccanica delle origini agli anni Novanta [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio presenta una rassegna della letteratura sulle principali aree distrettuali a specializzazione metalmeccanica. In particolare, vengono esaminati i casi delle province dell'Emilia centrale (Bologna, Modena e Reggio Emilia) e della provincia di Brescia. Di questi sistemi produttivi vengono ricostruiti il profilo storico, l'evoluzione della struttura industriale e delle imprese dalle origini agli anni novanta del XX secolo.

2008 - Industrial Policy and Artisan Firms in Italy, 1945-1981 [Working paper]
Longoni, M. G.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

This paper shows that after the Second World War the Italian State carried out an artisanship policy of an extent that was unparalleled in Europe. This policy was based on the provision, on the one hand, of lower tax and employers' contributions and welfare benefits at reduced premiums and, on the other, hand, of 'substitutive factors': soft loans, services and promotional initiatives by state agencies. Such an artisan policy played a twofold role: partly 'defensive', protecting a segment of marginal firms, and partly 'proactive', prompting the modernisation and innovation of more promising firms.

2008 - Italian diaspora and foreign direct investment: a cliometric perspective. [Working paper]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Recent economic literature highlights that migrant networks help to overcome theinformal barriers that exist in the international markets and boost international investment.Empirical studies on different countries confirm this prediction. This paper estimates (OLS-IV) aneconometric model to study the impact of both emigration and immigration on Italy’s bilateralforeign direct investment (FDI). The main result is that only the Italian diaspora has a significantpositive effect on Italy’s both inward and outward FDI. A theoretical framework, a profile of thediaspora and of immigration in Italy and some exemplary entrepreneurial histories help to interpretthe econometric evidence.

2008 - Migrant Networks and Foreign Direct Investment: A Cliometric Perspective [Working paper]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Recent economic literature highlights that migrant networks help to overcome the informal barriers that exist in the international markets and boost international investment. Empirical studies on different countries confirm this prediction. This paper estimates (OLS-IV) an econometric model to study the impact of both emigration and immigration on Italy's bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI). The main results are that Italian emigrants abroad have a significant positive effect on Italy's both inward and outward FDI, while immigrants are not a signifcant determinant. A theoretical framework, a profile of the diaspora and of immigration in Italy and some exemplary entrepreneurial histories help to interpret the econometric evidence.

2008 - Migrant Networks and Italian Foreign Direct Investment: a Cliometric Perspective [Working paper]
Murat, M.; Pistoresi, B.; Rinaldi, A.
abstract

2008 - Migrant Networks and Italian Foreign Direct Investment [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Murat, Marina Giovanna; Pistoresi, Barbara; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Recent economic literature highlights that migrant networks help to overcome the informal barriers that exist in the international markets and boost international investment. Empirical studies on different countries confirm this prediction. This paper estimates (OLS-IV) an econometric model to study the impact of both emigration and immigration on Italy's bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI). The main results are that Italian emigrants abroad have a significant positive effect on Italy's both inward and outward FDI, while immigrants are not a signifcant determinant. A theoretical framework, a profile of the diaspora and of immigration in Italy and some exemplary entrepreneurial histories help to interpret the econometric evidence.

2008 - The Italian Corporate Network, 1952-1983: New Evidence Using the Interlocking Directorates Technique [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

This paper explores the structure of the Italian corporate network by focusing on the relationships between financial - banks, insurances and holdings - and industrial firms in Italy during the periodo 1952-83 through the analysis of the interlocks that existed between them. By an interlock is meant the link created between two firms when an individual belongs to the board of directors of both. The analysis is based on a database - Imita.db - containing data on more than 300,000 directors of Italian joint-stock companies for the years 1952, 1960, 1972 and 1983. After showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and directors included in the database, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a prosopographic study about the big linkers, defined as those directors cumulating the highest number of offices in each benchmark year. The paper sonfirms that the Italian corporate network maintained substantial peculiarities in the period investigate. In particular, it argues that interlocks played an important role in guaranteeing the stability of the positions of control of the major private companies and their connections with State-owned enterprises. In 1952 and 1960 teh system, centred on the larger electrical companies, showed the highest degree of cohesion. That centre dissolved after the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1962 and was replaced by a less strong and cohesive one, hinged on banks, insurances and the major finance companies. At the beginning of the 1980s, the centre appeared to have been further reshaped with the marginalisation of state-owned enterprises.

2007 - Industrial Policy and Artisan Firms in Italy 1945-1971 [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Longoni, G. M.
abstract

This paper shows that after the Second World War the Italian State carried out an artisanship policy of an extent that was unparalleled in Europe. This policy was based on the provision, on the one hand, of lower tax and employers' contributions and welfare benefits at reduced premiums and, on the other, hand, of 'substitutive factors': soft loans, services and promotional initiatives by state agencies. Such an artisan policy played a twofold role: partly 'defensive', protecting a segment of marginal firms, and partly 'proactive', prompting the modernisation and innovation of more promising firms.

2006 - Entrepreneurs and managers (1913-1972) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This article presents the results of an analysis of the individuals who held teh largest number of board positions in Italian joint-stock companies and commonly referred to as big linkers. In capitalist countries, big linkers perform an extremely important function in ensuring the cohesion of the economic system, for they are usually the business community's opinion leaders, the vehicle through which information is collected and spread, as well as the principle channel connecting the business world and the political domain.

2006 - Le ceramiche nella storia dell'industria modenese nella seconda metà del XX secolo [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce la storia del distretto ceramico di Sassuolo e Scandiano dal 1945 alla fine del XX secolo.

2006 - The structure of Italian capitalism, 1952-1983: new evidence using the interlocking directorates technique [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper explores the structure of the Italian capitalistic system network by focusing on the relationships between financial - banks, insurances and holdings - and industrial firms in Italy during the periodo 1952-83 through the analysis of the interlocks that existed between them. By an interlock is meant the link created between two firms when an individual belongs to the board of directors of both. The analysis is based on a database - Imita.db - containing data on more than 300,000 directors of Italian joint-stock companies for the years 1952, 1960, 1972 and 1983. After showing a descriptive statistics of the companies and directors included in the database, the paper develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a prosopographic study about the big linkers, defined as those directors cumulating the highest number of offices in each benchmark year. The paper sonfirms that the Italian capitalism maintained substantial peculiarities in the period investigate. In particular, it argues that interlocks played an important role in guaranteeing the stability of the positions of control of the major private companies and their connections with State-owned enterprises. In 1952 and 1960 the system, centred on the larger electrical companies, showed the highest degree of cohesion. That centre dissolved after the nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1962 and was replaced by a less strong and cohesive one, hinged on banks, insurances and the major finance companies. At the beginning of the 1980s, the centre appeared to have been further reshaped with the marginalisation of state-owned enterprises.

2005 - Dalla fiamma ossidrica al laser. La Wam da Modena all'America e alla Cina (1968-2003) [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Muzzioli, Giuliano; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

L'analisi dei processi di internazionalizzazione delle piccole e medie imprese costituisce uno dei punti focali del dibattito economico italiano e rappresenta l'occasione per comprendere formule imprenditoriali innovative orientate alla crescita. Questo volume ricostruisce la storia della Wam, un'impresa che, nata nel 1968 in un garage alle porte di Modena, nel corso degli anni ha conquistato la leadership nel mondo della costruzione di macchine per l'estrazione e la movimentazionedi polveri a granuli. Con circa 1.000 addetti, all'inizio del XXI secolo la Wam dispone di propri stabilimenti produttivi in Italia, Stati Uniti, Cina, Croazia e Romania e di filiali commerciali in tutti i principali paesi del mondo.

2005 - I protagonisti. Alcuni esempi [Capitolo/Saggio]
Borsari, P.; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio presenta il profilo di alcune delle più importanti imprese carpigiane del secondo dopoguerra.

2005 - L'economia. 1945-1963 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce il profilo dell'economia carpigiana dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale al culmine del miracolo economico italiano.

2005 - The Emilian Model Revisited: Twenty Years After [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

In the early 1980s Emilia-Romagna drew wide attention as a case of successful industrialisation based on small and medium-sized firms clustered in industrial districts intermingled with social cohesion and integration assured by the hegemonic role played by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in the region. Twenty years after, the Emilian economy seems to have regenerated its competitive advantage. This resulted from important changes involving both the industrial structure and the governance structure. As to the former, a restructuring of local industry led to the formation of business groups, the rise of lead firms, the emergence of distant networks, the introduction of computer-based technologies, an intermingling of traditional and new technical competencies, and an increasing variety in the evolutionary paths of the various districts. As to the latter, the disappearance of a Communist political subculture abd the transformation of the ruling party from the PCI into firstly the PDS and then the DS brought about a change in the governance structure which was marked by and increased reliance on business associations in both designing and managing industrial policies. As a result, these shifted towards a more market-driven approach, focused on individual firms and, above all, lead firms rather than industrial districts

2005 - The structure of Italian capitalism, 1952-1972: new evidence using the interlocking directorates technique [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

This article explores the structure of the Italian capitalistic system by focusing on the relationships between financial - banks, insurances and holdings - and industrial firms in Italy during the period 1952-72 through the analysis of the interlocks that existed between them. By an interlock is meant the link created between two firms when an individual belongs to the board of directors of both. The analysis is based on a database - Imita.db - containing data on over 300,000 directors of Italian joint-stock companies for the years 1952, 1960 and 1972. After showing a descriptive statistics of the firms and directors included in the database, the article develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a prosopographic study about the big linkers, defined as those directors cumulating the highest number of offices in each benchmark year. The article confirms that Italian capitalism maintained substantial peculiarities in the period investigated. In particular, it argues thatinterlocks played an important role in guaranteeing the stability of the positions of control of the mahor private firms and their connections with State owned firms. In 1952 and 1960, the system, centred on larger electrical companies, showed the highest degree of cohesion. That centre dissolved after the natioanlisation of the electricity industry in 1962 and was replaced by a less strong and cohesive one, hinged on banks, insurances and the major finance companies.

2004 - BUSINESS ELITES IN ITALY: 1913-1972 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the individuals who held the largest number of board positions in Italian joint-stock companies and commonly referred to as big linkers, which are assumed as a proxy of the country's business elite. In capitalist countries, big linkers perform an extremely important function in ensuring the cohesion of the economic system, for they are usually the business community's opinion leaders, the vehicle through which information is collected and spread, as well as the principle channel connecting the business world and the political domain.

2004 - Il ruolo del sistema locale di istruzione nella formazione delle reti di competenze nella meccanica a Modena (1945-1980) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Andrisani, G.
abstract

Questo lavoro ricostruisce il ruolo della scuola tecnica "Fermo Corni" nella formazione delle reti di competenze nella meccanica a Modena

2004 - Le reazioni degli attori locali di fronte ai cambiamenti della struttura della popolazione, della tecnologia e dei mercati e ripercussioni sulla creazione e sul funzionamento delle reti locali di competenze negli ultimi vent'anni [Capitolo/Saggio]
Mengoli, P.; Rinaldi, Alberto; Sorrentino, T.; Andrisani, G.
abstract

Questo lavoro le reazioni degli attori locali modenesi (enti locali, associazioni imprenditoriali, organizzazioni sociali) di fronte ai cambiamenti intervenuti nell'ambiente competitivo negli ultimi vent'anni del XX secolo e le loro ripercussioni sulle politiche per la formazione e l'istruzione.

2004 - Primi appunti per una storia della Federazione Provinciale Artigiani di Modena (1945-1961) [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo paper ricostruisce la storia della Federazione Provinciale di Modena aderente alla CNA dalla sua fondazione nel 1945 al 1961.

2004 - Rassegna della letteratura sulla nascita, la struttura e l'evoluzione dei distretti industriali italiani a vocazone metalmeccanica [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo lavoro presenta una rassegna della letteratura sulla storia delle principali aree distrettuali italiane a vocazione meccanica nel XX secolo.

2003 - A. Alaimo, Un'altra industria? Distretti e sistemi locali nell'Italia contemporanea [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

2003 - A. Colli, Il quarto capitalismo. Un profilo italiano, Marsilio, Venezia, 2002 [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

2003 - IMPRENDITORI E MANAGER (1913-1972) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio presenta un'analisi prosopografica dei big linkers, definiti come i 20 individui che cumulavano il più elevato numero di presenze nelle società italiane per azioni negli anni benchmark 1913, 1927, 1936, 1952, 1960 e 1972.

2003 - L'EMILIA-ROMAGNA A VENT'ANNI DAL "MODELLO EMILIA" (1980-2000) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio analizza l'evoluzione della struttura industriale e le politiche politiche locali in Emilia-Romagna dal 1980 alla fine del XX secolo.

2003 - L'emergere di un'impresa leader distrettuale: il caso della Wam (1968-1990) [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano
abstract

Questo paper ricostrusice la storia della Wam di Cavezzo - un'impresa nata nel 1968 e divenuta nel corso degli anni leader mondiale nella produzione di macchine e attrezzature per la movimentazione e il trattamento di polveri e granuli - dalle origini al 1990.

2003 - THE STRUCTURE OF ITALIAN CAPITALISM, 1952-1972: NEW EVIDENCE USING THE INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES TECHNIQUE [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Vasta, M.
abstract

.This article explores the structure of the Italian capitalistic system by focusing on the relationships between financial - banks, insurances and holdings - and industrial firms in Italy during the period 1952-72 through the analysis of the interlocks that existed between them. By an interlock is meant the link created between two firms when an individual belongs to the board of directors of both. The analysis is based on a database - Imita.db - containing data on over 300,000 directors of Italian joint-stock companies for the years 1952, 1960 and 1972. After showing a descriptive statistics of the firms and directors included in the database, the article develops a network connectivity analysis of the system. This is integrated by a prosopographic study about the big linkers, defined as those directors cumulating the highest number of offices in each benchmark year. The article confirms that Italian capitalism maintained substantial peculiarities in the period investigated. In particular, it argues that interlocks played an important role in guaranteeing the stability of the positions of control of the mahor private firms and their connections with State owned firms. In 1952 and 1960, the system, centred on larger electrical companies, showed the highest degree of cohesion. That centre dissolved after the natioanlisation of the electricity industry in 1962 and was replaced by a less strong and cohesive one, hinged on banks, insurances and the major finance companies.

2003 - The structure of Italian capitalism, 1952-1972: new evidence using the interlocking directorates technique [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto; M., Vasta
abstract

The paper explores the structure of the Italian capitalistic system by focusing on the relationships between finacial - banks, insurances and holdings - and industrial firms in Italy during the period 1952-72 through the analysis of the interlocking directorates that existed between them.

2002 - IL POSSESSO FONDIARIO E IL PAESAGGIO AGRARIO A SAN MARTINO SPINO E GAVELLO ALLA FINE DEL SETTECENTO [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

.

2002 - IL RUOLO DELLA TENUTA GANDINI NEL QUADRO DELLO SVILUPPO DEL CAPITALISMO AGRARIO NELLE CAMPAGNE MODENESI [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

.

2002 - TECNOLOGIA E LAVORO TRA MECCANIZZAZIONE E AUTOMAZIONE NELL'INDUSTRIA MECCANICA. IL CASO DELLA WAM [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano
abstract

Questo saggio analizza l'impatto dell'automazione e dell'introduzione delle tecnologie basate sul computer sui contenuti e l'organizzazione del lavoro in un'impresa meccanica modenese.

2002 - The Emilian Model Revisited: Twenty Years After [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.
abstract

In the early 1980s Emilia-Romagna drew wide attention as a case of successful industrialisation based on small and medium-sized firms clustered in industrial districts intermingled with social cohesion and integration assured by the hegemonic role played by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in the region. Twenty years after, the Emilian economy seems to have regenerated its competitive advantage. This resulted from important changes involving both the industrial structure and the governance structure. As to the former, a restructuring of local industry led to the formation of business groups, the rise of lead firms, the emergence of distant networks, the introduction of computer-based technologies, an intermingling of traditional and new technical competencies, and an increasing variety in the evolutionary paths of the various districts. As to the latter, the disappearance of a Communist political subculture abd the transformation of the ruling party from the PCI into firstly the PDS and then the DS brought about a change in the governance structure which was marked by and increased reliance on business associations in both designing and managing industrial policies. As a result, these shifted towards a more market-driven approach, focused on individual firms and, above all, lead firms rather than industrial districts

2002 - The structure of Italian capitalism, 1952-1972: new evidence using the interlocking directorates technique [Working paper]
Rinaldi, A.; Vasta, M.
abstract

2002 - UNA CONCRETA APPLICAZIONE DELLE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE: IL CASO WAM [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano
abstract

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2001 - Corni ottanta. 80 anni di cultura tecnica e professionale a Modena. Progetto per la mostra a cura di Alberto Rinaldi e Rossella Ruggeri. Coordinamento scientifico di Margherita Russo [Esposizione]
Rinaldi, Alberto; R., Ruggeri
abstract

Questo testo presenta il progetto per una mostra per l'80° anniversario della fondazione della scuola tecnica "Fermo Corni" di Modena

2001 - IL POSSESSO FONDIARIO MODENESE DAL SEC. XVIII AL 1859 [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce l'evoluzione della distribuzione del possesso fondiario nella pianura modenese dall'impianto del Catasto Ricci nel 1791 alla caduta del Ducato di Modena nel 1859.

2001 - LA CEREALICOLTURA NELLA BASSA MODENESE IN ETA' MODERNA [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

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2000 - Distretti ma non solo. L'industrializzazione della provincia di Modena (1945-1995) [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Nell'ultimo cinquantennio un impetuoso processo di sviluppo industriale ha trasformato radicalmente la fisionomia dell'economia modenese, ponendo fine ad un plurisecolare mondo agricolo e rendendo possibile la diffusione di un benessere che in passato era appannaggio di una ristrettissima élite. Il decollo delle attività industriali si è imperniato su cinque settori principali - agro-alimentare, metalmeccanica, ceramica, tessile-abbigliamento e biomedicale - fortemente integrati tra loro e che hanno dato vita ad una variegata rete di sistemi produttivi locali. Quattro di essi sono riconducibili al modello del distretto industriale, mentre per i principali comparti dell'agro-alimentare meglio si attaglia la nozione di filiera. Molto importante è stato poi il ruolo di alcune grandi imprese, come la Fiat Trattori e l'Inalca di Castelvetro.

2000 - Istituzioni e società nell'Emilia rossa (G. Seravalli, Teatro Regio, Teatro Comunale. Società, istituzioni e politica a Modena e a Parma, Donzelli, Roma, 1999) [Recensione in Rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

1999 - Economia e società a Bomporto nell'Ottocento [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Sorrentino, T.
abstract

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1999 - L'ECONOMIA MODENESE AL TEMPO DI CIRO MENOTTI [Relazione in Atti di Convegno]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

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1999 - PROFILO STORICO DELL'ECONOMIA MODENESE (1945-1995) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano
abstract

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1999 - Un secolo di cooperazione. La Cpl Concordia dal 1890 al 1999 [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Muzzioli, Giuliano; Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

La Cpl Concordia, una cooperativa nata nel 1890 con lo scopo di acquisire appalti per l'esecuzione di opere pubbliche, nell'intento di procurare qualche giornata di lavoro alle centinaia di braccianti di uno dei comunic più poveri della provincia di Modena, si è trasformata, a partire dagli anni sessanta del XX secolo, in un'impresa dinamica e moderna, all'avenguardia in Italia nel settore della costruzione e gestione degli impianti di distribuzione del gas metano. La storia della Cpl Concordia pone dei problemi comuni a tutte le cooperative in fase di crescita. Quando, in passato, l'opera dei cooperatori si dispiegava in un ambiente fatto di povertà, miseria e precario sviluppo economico, le iniziative sociali e solidaristiche avevano un'importanza primaria. Negli anni più recenti, invece, i tratti tipici dell'impresa sono emersi con maggior forza, sino ad imporsi come prioritari, allorché ci si è trovati ad operare in una situazione contraddistinta da un'accentuata competitività e da condizioni di benessere diffuso.

1998 - Le rotazioni agrarie nel Modenese dalla fine del Settecento all'età giolittiana [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

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1998 - STORIA DEL BANCO SAN GEMINIANO (1897-1932) [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Muzzioli, Giuliano; Nannini, E.
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce la storia del Banco San Geminiano di Modena dalla sua fondazione nel 1897 alla fusione con il Banco San Prospero di Reggio Emilia nel 1932.

1997 - L'industrializzazione della provincia di Modena [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Breve saggio monografico sull'industrializzazione della provincia di Modena dal 1945 agli anni novanta.

1996 - Arti e mestieri [Prefazione o Postfazione]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

1996 - L'industria metalmeccanica modenese 1945-1991 [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio ricostruisce la storia dell'impresa metalmeccanica modenese dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale all'inizio degli anni novanta.

1995 - Alcune considerazioni sulla storia del paesaggio agrario emiliano [Articolo su rivista]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo articolo analizza l'evoluzione del paesaggio agrario in Emilia-Romagna nell'Ottocento, con particolare riferimento al caso della pianura modenese. In particolare, questo articolo sottolinea come l'evoluzione del paesaggio agraria ifletté da un lato il condizionamento ambientale e dall'altro la dinamica dei contratti agrari prevalenti nella zona.

1995 - L'ECONOMIA MODENESE DAL 1945 AL 1995 [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

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1995 - La Padania tra arretratezza e modernizzazione. Le campagne modenesi dalla fine del '700 all'Unità nazionale [Monografia/Trattato scientifico]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Il volume ricostruisce la storia dell'agricoltura modenese dalla fine del settecento all'unità nazionale. Vengono analizzate le dinamiche della popolazione, del regime fondiario, del paesaggio agrario, dei contratti agrari, delle rotazioni colturali, delle principali produzioni agricole e dell'allevamento.

1993 - Lo sviluppo dell’industria metalmeccanica in provincia di Modena: 1945-1990 [Working paper]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo paper ricostruisce la storia dell'industria metalmeccanica modenese dal 1945 al 1990.

1992 - LA SINISTRA E L'INDUSTRIA DIFFUSA: IL RUOLO DELLE ISTITUZIONI [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto
abstract

Questo saggio analizza le politiche condotte dagli enti locali dell'Emilia-Romagna a sostegno dello sviluppo delle piccole e medie imprese e dei distretti industriali.

1991 - GLI ANNI DELLA DEMOCRAZIA: VICENDE E PROTAGONISTI DELL'ECONOMIA. PARTE I e II [Capitolo/Saggio]
Rinaldi, Alberto; Brusco, Sebastiano
abstract

Il lavoro ricostruisce la storia dell'economia modenese dal 1945 al 1990