The Managerial Revolution in Italy : the Managers of IRI (1945-1970)

This paper aims to analyze the managers of IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale) - the major State-owned industrial holding and the most prominent example of managerial capitalism in the history of Italian economy - in the significant period of the so-called Golden Age. The paper is founded on a data-set concerning top and middle managers (education, military service, political and religious affiliations, recruitment and career), built intertwining a multiplicity of original sources. Based on empirical evidence, it aims to get a deeper understanding of some of the crucial issues in the identity and action of SOEs managers, mainly the complex relationships with the government and the political milieu