“Free enterprise in excellent condition” is a witty pamphlet child of the pandemic. It collects the writings elaborated during the lockdown by a high-ranking intellectual such as Franco Amatori, Senior Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University.
It is published by Elective Affinities of Ancona and is particularly close to FIRST online because the slim volume (110 pages) consists of two parts, of which the first - entitled "Reasoning about economic history (and surroundings) in the months of the pandemic” – collects the writings of Amateurs published between April and July on FIRST online. The second part includes instead a challenging essay on the history of Iri that attractive right from its title: "The legend of the entrepreneurial state".
“Iri is history. For better or for worse - writes Amatori - the role of the entrepreneurial state has marked the Italian economic situation. Its legacy is represented by important infrastructures and by what little remains of the large company in Italy, still controlled by the state today, but operating on the market as Eni, Enel, Finmeccanica-Leonardo, Fincantieri. The rest of the country's competitive capacity is represented by Made in Italy companies and virtuous district economies that manage to enhance the small and medium size".
In short, Amatori concludes, “it is no longer the time of the IRI and its name evoked as a saving solution – or as a “shortcut” – clashes with the characteristics of the real economy”, even if the politicians who are used to reading the present with the rear-view mirror don't know it or pretend not to know it.
