The progress made is undeniable, but there have not been sufficient changes to the Italian financial structure. Our system still puts too much emphasis on financial debt and not enough on risk 5  capital, and banks continue to play too big a role in it, which then backfires, making them more vulnerable during the negative phases of the economic cycle.
This makes life more difficult for those who want and are able to invent, to paraphrase the historian Carlo Maria Cipolla, ‘new things that please the world’, which is the only way to create solid economic development. This slow progress is explained by the particular characteristics of Italian firms, which influence demand, and those of financial entities, which influence supply.