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All of this begs the question: why does the Italian manufacturing sector exhibit such
a high degree of inertia in its product specialisation in the face of such glaring
disadvantage vis-?-vis the other large euro-area countries? Faini and Sapir (2005)
focus on the issue of factor endowment, arguing that Italy?s product mix simply
reflects the low level of human capital in the economy evidenced by the abundance
of low-skilled labour. The average level of education of working age population in
Italy measured by the average number of years spent in school is below the EUaverage.

and the gap has been increasing over time. The recent growth literature
(see for instance Acemoglu, 2003) shows that the causality between education,
technological progress and growth can go both ways. In particular, the prevailing
level of product specialisation may shape the process of education creating virtuous
or vicious circles. Italy would seem to be caught in a vicious circle.