Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale

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The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI) was an organization set up by the Italian fascist government in 1933 to combat the global depression. Its function was to rescue floundering companies which could no longer afford to pay loans.

Although set up as a temporary measure, the IRI continued to run for as long Mussolini was in power. It was able to reorganise companies so that production was maintained. The main action of the IRI was to buy shares of failing companies from bank. In 1937 the IRI's powers were extended so that it could nationalise companies, although no effective nationalization were carried out. By 1939 the IRI controlled 20% of the Italian industry through government-linked companies (GLCs), including 75% of pig iron production and 90% of the shipbuilding industry. Also, by the late 1930s, the activities of this organisation led to the Italian state owning a bigger share in the economy than in any other country except the USSR.

Even long after World War II, the IRI became one of the largest state conglomerates in Italy, owning many diverse businessess such as the autostrada system, the airline Alitalia and many banks and telecom companies.

[edit] Bibliography

Vera Lutz, Italy: A Study in Economic Development, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1962.
Pasquale Saraceno, Il sistema delle imprese a partecipazione statale nell'esperienza italiana, Milano, Giuffrè, 1975.
Bruno Amoroso - O.J. Olsen, Lo stato imprenditore, Bari, Laterza, 1978.
Nico Perrone, Il dissesto programmato. Le partecipazioni statali nel sistema di consenso democristiano, Bari, Dedalo, 1992.