Il declino economico dell'Italia: i termini del dibattito

Autore: Luciano Marcello Milone
In: Meridiana. 54, 2005
doi:10.1400/78435
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Abstract

Italy’s economic decline: a review of the debate
An increasing number of scholars tend to interpret the weak performance of the Italian economy as a consequence of structural decline, in particular since the early 1990s. This view is supported by adverse trends in a wide range of indicators: real per capita GDP, labour productivity, total factor productivity and international competitiveness measured by both net exports and foreign direct investments. The major structural weaknesses that have been identified in the Italian economy feature: low research and development activity, weak innovative capacity, a human capital gap relative to other industrial countries, an excessive number of small-size firms, rigidities in the labour market, various inefficiencies of financial markets, low competitive pressures owing to heavily regulated product markets, inadequacy of public infrastructures, poor quality of certain public institutions. There is a broad consensus that a sustained growth strategy requires a set of structural reforms, both of product, labour and financial markets and of the public institutional setting. Nevertheless, for a number of reasons considered in this paper, the implementation of such a reform program appears to be slow and difficult.