Abstract

The obvious decrease in the Italian export world share in the last few years has pushed economists to fmd a plausible diagnosis for the apparent decline of the Italian model of specialization. On the basis of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence, we support the view that there is a need for a so called "competitive triangle", made by large and contemporaneous investments in technology, organizational change and human resources. In this framework, the direct and indirect support to firms' reorganization, the involvement of union representatives in dealing with the skill-bias and the strengthening of general (rather than technical) education have been singled out as there important economic policies.