The political economy of neo-liberalism in Italy and France

Bruno Amable, Elvire Guillaud and Stefano Palombarini ()
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Stefano Palombarini: LED - Université Paris 8, https://www.univ-paris8.fr/EA-3391-Laboratoire-d-economie-dionysien-LED

Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne

Abstract: There are many apparent similarities between the current political and economic situations of France and Italy. The mainstream view is that at least part of the neo-liberal strategy could be a solution to the economic problems of both variants of the European model of capitalism. However, the difficulties met by the implementation of these strategies by Sarkozy and Berlusconi lead to believe that the success or failure of neo-liberalisation has less to do with its (lack of) macroeconomic merits than with the stability of the socio-political alliances that support it. In this respect, France and Italy are markedly different. This paper shows that even if the "hard core" of the neoliberal social bloc is roughly the same in both countries, this core constitutes a minority of the electorate; a neoliberal strategy must therefore rely on an extended social coalition, which might not be similar between countries. The Great Recession revealed part of the structural characteristics that set both countries apart. The aim of this article is to show that the consideration of the different socio-political alliances found in each country can help to understand how Italy and France ended up on different economic trajectories

Keywords: Institutions; model of capitalism; neoliberal reforms; political crisis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 P16 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2011-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-eec, nep-hpe and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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ftp://mse.univ-paris1.fr/pub/mse/CES2011/11051.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The political economy of neo-liberalism in Italy and France (2011)
Working Paper: The political economy of neo-liberalism in Italy and France (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11051

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