Looking in the wrong direction? Reflections on Italy's most recent 'crisis'.

This paper argues that, rather than focus on Italy's well-known institutional deficits, especially vis-à-vis its larger, more prosperous European neighbours, we should examine instead the experiences of another set of countries (India, Israel, etc.) that have promoted economic reform and growth through entrepreneurship. Relying on cross-national networks to provide local firms with capital, technology, market access and managerial skills, firms in these other countries were able to supplement or even circumvent institutional deficiencies in their home countries and build successful enterprises. Perhaps a similar strategy could be pursued by Italy's small and medium-sized firms and thus help relaunch growth in the Italian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]