On the Sustainability of the Italian Public Debt

On June 26th, I took part to the Conference on The Sustainability of Italian Public Debt, Non-Standard Proposals”, which took place at the Corriere della Sera Foundation, toghether with Guido Tabellini (Bocconi), Lucrezia Reichlin (LBS), Charles Wyplosz (Geneva), George Papacostantinou (ex Economy Minister, Greece) and moderated by Danilo Taino (Corriere). The slides of my presentation […]

Italy’s Looming Political Crisis: Dancing Under the (Debt) Volcano

I have argued recently ( here) that the victory of the Berlusconi’s coalition in the March regional elections was a “Pyrrhus” victory. Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PdL) lost votes to its main ally, the Northern League, and weakened considerably in the productive North. It did well in the South, however, where the League […]

The Debt Implications of Berlusconi’s “Pyrrhic” Victory

In many ways the recent Italian regional elections have been a success for ther centre-right government of Mr Berlusconi, apparently confirming the inoxidable popularity of the media-tycoon-turned politician, who has successfully survived recent corruption scandals (for the reconstruction of eathquake-stricken L’Aquila), sex scandals (the parties with prostitutes), the disclosed attempts to shut off a popular […]