February 11, 1982

The economic policies emerging in Italy make it clear that some of the country's favored industrial traditions and fiscal prejudices may be falling victim to the economic slump. The Government is now trying to increase cooperation between Fiat, the private company that is Italy's biggest auto maker, and several state-owned companies in the auto, steel and telecommunications sectors. Montedison, the state-controlled chemicals group, is cooperating with private chemical companies, such as the Occidental Petroleum Corporation. In seeking this cooperation, Government leaders have conceded that managers of state-owned companies are not able to cope with mounting industrial problems and need help from the private sector.

Flush with some inherited money, Ruth Spencer put some of it into American Telephone and Telegraph stock soon after she got out of college. Now retired and a widow living in Terrell, Tex., she still has the stock, but with A.T.& T. splitting up the Bell System, she isn't sure what to do with it. ''Up to now, Telephone has been plenty good to this shareholder,'' she said. ''I've read every little smithereen I can find, and I've clipped them and marked them and puzzled over them. Certainly, anything that's new is fearful, though I'm glad that that dad-gum suit is settled. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep my stock, but I'm going to watch it like a hawk. Don't think I'm not.'' Every member of the phone company's far-flung family of three million shareholders - from the big pension plans to the short-order cook in Duluth to the widow at poolside in Miami -has been watching A.T.& T. stock with an accountant's keen eye ever since the tumultuous announcement some four weeks ago that the phone system would be broken up.

IN the late 1960's and early 70's it was easy to conjure up the image of a modern interior: streamlined, open space, shiny su rfaces and glossy walls - a living area geared to hi gh technology and often dubbed ''space age.'' One might find the odd piece of art, a single flower or the right ashtray adorning the uncluttered surfaces. But the design goal was to attain a bare, clean look synonymous with industrial sophistication. It supposed willingness on the part of its devotees to eliminate most of their possessions and to have a taste for the domestic adaptation of such materials as stainless steel and travertine - materials usually used in offices and skyscraper lobbies. Often it also meant spending a lot of money.

Retail sales dropped 1.1 percent in January, the Commerce Department reported today. The decline, the fourth in the last seven months, had been expected in light of heavy snow, which discouraged shopping in parts of the nation; the recession; a sales decline at auto showrooms, and continued high unemployment, which left many Americans with little money to buy more than essentials. Overall retail sales, which make up more than 60 percent of the nation's gross national product, fell to a seasonally adjusted $86.1 billion in January after declining a revised two-tenths of 1 percent in December, the department reported. Previously, it said retail sales increased four-tenths of 1 percent in December.

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, one of the country's largest publishing concerns, will move its headquarters and most of its operations out of New York City to Florida and California. In a statement yesterday to the company's 8,300 employees, 2,000 of whom work in the city, William Jovanovich, the company chairman, said the decision to move was made only after a 20-month study of alternatives. He said it was based on the costs of office space, energy and taxes, and on a lack of adequate transportation. ''The cost of space was not decisive in itself,'' Mr. Jovanovich said. ''As a national and international company, H.B.J. requires varied working hours. Such scheduling is not generally afforded in New York City. In my own view, the greatest social need of adults in New York City is a variable, reliable and safe transportation system.''