Super-Commission to Combat Corruption in Italy
At long last it seems as though Italy is doing something to eliminate corruption. A super-commission is to be set up to fight corruption, or will be, if the proposal ever makes it through Italy’s perpetually bickering parliament. Corruption, which costs Italy an estimated €60 billion a year, has been holding back economic growth for […]
Italy and its Demons
Constantin Gurdgiev makes some good points in his Tweets reported on Italy Chronicles last week. Perhaps the Berlusconi years were better than we have come to remember. Gurdgiev sees the problem of Italy’s future as one of high national debt levels and the problems associated with servicing and refinancing that debt. He calculates that 3% […]
Italy: Tax, Suicides, Anti-Politics, and Public Spending Cuts
Italy seems to be hectic at present. Lots is going on, even if not much change is occurring. Italy’s technocrat Prime Minister is attempting to put troublesome Italy to rights, but criticism of his approach to solving Italy’s many problems is mounting daily. It seems that Italians do not really appreciate the size of the […]
Italy’s Article 18 Woes
Italy is in turmoil at the moment. At the root of much consternation are reforms to Italy’s labor legislation and in particular something known as Article 18. Article 18 is part of Italy’s “workers’ statute”, the body of Italian law which governs employee rights. This article states that Italian employers must reinstate unfairly dismissed workers. Italy’s […]
Are Italians Really Lazy?
Recent statistics released by Europe’s statistical bureau Eurostat revealed that salaries in Italy are amongst the lowest in Europe. Growth in salaries in Italy between 2005 and 2009 was a measly 3.3%. By way of comparison, in the same period in Spain, salaries grew by almost 30%. Even crisis struck Portugal managed to increase its […]
Where is Italy Going?
This Italy resident has a sneaking suspicion that Italy is entering a period of transition. Mario Monti, who was brought in to take over from the disastrous Silvio Berlusconi, is determined to steer Italy in what he believes is the right direction. Really, all Monti wants to do is to make Italy function properly. Whether […]
Crazynomics
One of my Banking and Finance Master students at the Il Sole 24 Ore business school where I teach made a comment which got me thinking. What he said was that in times of crisis, high interest rates do not make any sense at all. You know, I think he has a point. Normal investment […]
Italy’s Austerity Measures – A Summary
After rushing through round one of austerity measures for Italy back in July, Italy’s stock markets crashed. As a consequence, a revised packet of austerity measures was cooked up during the summer. After a considerable amount of uncertainty caused by proposals, counter proposals, adjustments and amendments galore, something finally appeared last week in Italy. Confidence […]
Italy’s Austerity Measures becoming Clearer, Sort Of
Berlusconi is still beavering away trying to piece together Austerity Measures Two – the sequel. Today just what has been cooked up may become slightly less opaque. The total amount of money Italy stands to save has more than tripled from the Mark 1 austerity package’s €40 billion to around €131 billion. Berlusconi is his […]