Was Italian Fascism a Developmental Dictatorship? Some Evidence to the Contrary
Author(s)
Cohen, Jon S.
Abstract
It is argued by some that Italian fascism was a mass mobilizing developmental dictatorship in which economic policies, based on a coherent, logically consistent theory of modernization, promoted swift economic growth. To prevent external interference, domestic self-sufficiency was encouraged and to forestall internal prevarication, state control was fostered. This paper attempts to refute this argument. It shows that fascist economic policies lacked coherence and consistency, and were dictated not by some overriding objective but by domestic and international conditions that gave policy makers little room to manoeuvre. Intertemporal and cross-country comparisons of industrial production and labour productivity indicate, if anything, that fascism retarded instead of promoting economic growth.
