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Economic Policy and Reforms in Contemporary Italy

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  • Padoa Schioppa, Fiorella Kostoris

Abstract

This paper analyses the spectacular fiscal adjustment currently occurring in Italy. In 1990, the Italian General Government showed the second largest primary deficit-to-GDP ratio in Europe; in 1997 it is expected to have the largest primary surplus-to-GDP ratio, with a 3% overall deficit-to-GDP ratio. Inflation and inflationary expectations are beaten; the lira is firmly reintroduced in the EMS exchange rate mechanism and the interest rate differential on Treasury bonds with the rest of Europe is almost non-existent; in the budget process most of the traditional divergences between the appropriations approved by Parliament and the final cash expenditures are eliminated. Some qualitative shortcomings, however, appear in the Italian fiscal adjustment. They concern the excessive use of taxation, the cut of public investment, the insufficiency of structural reforms of the Welfare State and the slowness of concrete steps in the overall administrative reform and in the rethinking of the public sector role in a modern society (liberalizations, public properties’ rentability, privatizations).

Suggested Citation

  • Padoa Schioppa, Fiorella Kostoris, 1998. "Economic Policy and Reforms in Contemporary Italy," CEPR Discussion Papers 1874, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1874
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Elisabetta BERTERO, 2006. "Does a change in the ownership of firms, from public to private, make a difference?," Departmental Working Papers 2006-03, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    2. Elisabetta Bertero & Laura Rondi, 2002. "Hardening a Soft Budget Constraint Through 'Upward Devolution' to a Supranational Institution: The Case of Italian State-Owned Firms and the European Union," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-16, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa, 2003. "Il Mercato e le Politiche Economiche in Italia," ISAE Working Papers 30, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal Adjustment; privatizations; reforms; Welfare State;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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