Living Through the Crisis in Italy

Italy is normally classified together with Greece, Portugal and Spain in a group of familialistic countries which adhere to a Southern European employment model (see for example Karamessini 2008; Ciccia 2010). In Italy the family serves as both an element of the production system (via small family firms and, sometimes, the hidden economy) and a source of support through sharing of income and care especially in hard times. But the reality is such that this family system cannot cope with the globalizing world or absorb the disruptive effects of a major crisis in employment and income. The crisis in Italy is also related to the accumulation of an excessive public debt of the range of 100 per cent of GDP, second highest in Europe after Greece. This is another complication which also renders managing the crisis rather difficult for the state.