Italy needs to focus on productivity growth
Financial Times
06 Maggio 2008
Over
the years, I have observed this about the political economy of economy
reform in Europe: there is an inverse relationship between the number
of objectives and measures of a reform agenda and its ultimate success.
The most successful reform agendas have a single overriding objective
and a short list of measures. The worst are lists with 316 proposals,
as recently published in France, or the 281-page election platform
published by Romano Prodi's centre-left alliance ahead of the 2006
Italian elections. The European Union's verbose Lisbon Agenda falls
into the same category. It is not bad in substance, but lousy in terms
of political economy.
I am moderately optimistic about the future of economy reform in Italy,
primarily because of this inverse relationship. The new administration
has offered no long lists, no convoluted objectives, a few sensible
measures and a few less …
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