Abstract

The essay deals with the relationship between institutions, new techologies and economic developement. The first part provides a broad overview of the contributions of economic theory, economic history and political science to the controversial questions on how to promote economic developement and in particular on the role played by innovation. Intitutions (i.e. democracy, rule of law, independent judiciary, professional bureaucracy, etc.) are considered by recent literature as a main factor. The second part focuses on the Italian legal system (competition law, public procurement, environmental regulation, etc.) and provides examples on how statutes, the bureaucracy and the legal culture in general promote or hamper economic growth.