Abstract

This year's convention "Twenty-five Years of "l'industria - Rivista di Economia e Politica Industriale". Italian Industrial Organisation, Corporate Governance and Company Growth" wishes to show the strong "symbiotic" relationship that links our Journal to the "country-system". Two important aspects emerge from a re-reading of this last quarter of a century as viewed through the work of the conventions. The first is the constant reference to the theme of Institutions, which has in some ways represented the fabric of our conventions. The second, and a matter for a certain degree of self-satisfaction, is represented by the capacity of the conventions to be ahead of the times and foresee problems that would shortly afterwards be topical. We can recall the reflections on inflation, industrial reconvertion and restructuring, protection of competition and regulation in the public utilities sector. A result that we have most certainly managed to reach is that of having brought the subject of the methods of industrial economics into an Italian cultural context, thereby contributing to initiating a debate on the elimination of national differences, on the attainment of internal balance, on the opening up of the Italian economy to international trade and on highlighting the many frailties and imbalances present in the structure of Italian industry. The scientific and life experiences that we have gained have sometimes been tormented and troubled but always highly charged with a human and professional dimension.