"Matt Yglesias":http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/10/24/352064/italys-small-business-problem/ and "Tyler Cowen":http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/10/why-is-italy-doing-so-much-worse-these-days.html argue that Italy's economic problems
An interesting story from Pepper Culpepper's (very good) "new book":http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521134137?ie=UTF8&tag=henryfarrell-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0521134137