Government Strategy and Covid-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Manufacturing Industry Located in the South of Italy

The paper here presented aims at analysing the strategies implemented by the Italian government during the Covid-19 period, with reference to the manufacturing sector in Southern Italy. The Covid-19 pandemic affected not only firms, but also citizens with a sudden change in both the supply and demand of products and services. All States, not only in Europe, but worldwide, have defined specific measures to preserve and defend the safety of the population, imposing restrictive lockdowns, which have in any case brought about a decisive change in people’s daily lives and consequently in the manufacturing sectors. In the present paper, labour-related policies and their impact on the Italian manufacturing sector in the Southern of Italy will be analysed discussing the validity of these instruments and especially whether they have been sufficient to defend companies from what can be considered one of the world’s most significant economic and financial crises. The considerations arising from this type of analysis are crucial not only for the Country’s microeconomics, but also for the impact on the Country’s growth in terms of productivity and GDP. Therefore, what is here proposed is a reflection on the main support policy that the Italian government has defined to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and support the whole economy. The main purpose is highlighting where aids and incentives have been lacking, discussing the weakness of the policies implemented