New Italian book: between profit and well-being

What is the state of the foundational economy in Italy? Perhaps large financial players are less deeply involved in the management of essential economic activities than in some other European countries. However, the Italian public sector is increasingly weakened by austerity policies and budget constraints, and the entire foundational economy is traversed by the logic of investor capitalism, which involves public entities as much as private actors. The seven sections of this book show how all this has developed, in different ways and to varying extents, in seven key sectors: education, health, care, water distribution, retail banking, local public transport, housing. Each section considers the sectoral implications of the pandemic and the relevance of new National Resilience Plan, before paths for radical innovation are envisaged.

In the spirit of the Foundational Economy Collective, the book was collectively authored by about 30 scholars, and it is edited/introduced by Joselle Dagnes and Angelo Salento.

It can be downloaded from the publisher’s webpage: https://fondazionefeltrinelli.it/schede/prima-i-fondamentali/