Macroeconomic Policy in Italy and Britain

This is the third and last in a series of articles comparing macroeconomic policy in this country and in our largest European neighbours. A comparison with France was published in the Review in November 1984 and with Germany in November last year. The Italian economy is less well known in this country than that of either France or Germany. As a result its achievements may not be so widely appreciated. There have been no doubt, and remain, serious economic problems in Italy, but on balance it is the continued vitality of that country that needs to be better understood. In particular we are bound to ask how economic policy has contributed to economic development in Italy given the very difficult political environment in which it has had to operate for much of the past decade.