This study surveys the role of state enterprise in Italy over the last fifteen years. Focusing on the history and recent growth of the public sector there, the authors examine the structure, performance, and control of some typical state enterprises, the methods of finance, and the pattern of investment.

Their pioneering work, although it formulates no easy answers about the ideal role of public enterprise, marshals a great many useful facts and arguments concerning the one outstanding national experiment in this direction to date.