Once upon a time, there was GDP. Or rather, once there was “just” GDP, understood as an aggregate indicator used to measure a country’s economic growth by quantifying the flow of goods and services for end-use and produced within a certain period of time in a given territory.
Proceedings at this roundtable discussion got underway with the acknowledgement that, in recent years, consideration of the question of how to measure economic performance and social progress has gone far beyond the concept of Gross Domestic Product. This is true of the efforts of national statistical institutes, major international organizations, as well as the academic and research sphere. Today, there is a vast array of knowledge and statistical data available, enabling a much more comprehensive grasp of economic activities and their actual value.
The debate over the need to broaden the scope of economic indicators – and more particularly, moving beyond measurements of GDP – has inspired a wide range of studies on the topic both in Italy and abroad. This roundtable event examined a recent Aspen Institute Italia-Fondazione Edison study entitled “Italy in the new geo-economy of the G-20”, which aims to contribute further to this discussion. The study reveals an Italy that is better-placed than indicated by traditional rankings and compares favorably with other industrialized economies in numerous fields.
The National Conference got underway with the observation that one of the negative effects of the international financial crisis has been to halt debate on the problems afflicting the savings market in Italy, and on what measures are needed to overcome them. These problems were already beginning to emerge as early as the late 1990s, but they have become more evident as a result of the crisis.
