The Italian Patient in 2016: Weak but not poor

Abstract

Italy has been struggling with weak economic performance for the better part of a decade. Since 2007, the economy has not returned to a path of robust growth. The Italian economy is suffering from a triple-dip recession, and a solution seems far away. Despite this lasting stagnation, there have been only limited economic reforms. For some outside observers, Italian society seems to be longing for a return to the 1970s, the days of television personality Ugo Fantozzi: a cosy life without major turbulence. But to expect that Italy, or the European Union, will be able to return to the sheltered life of the past is wishful thinking. Italy is facing a choice: it will either embrace globalisation � with all its disadvantages, job losses in uncompetitive industries for instance � or it will have to opt for a more sheltered, but probably poorer path of economic development. If Italian society chooses the former, it will require a radical overhaul of the Italian economy. Show more