Italy 2040: a new social contract to weather the crisis
The United States-China face-off is surely going to dominate in the near future. Washington now considers the bid to involve China in a liberal order, which Beijing itself has deemed illegitimate, a lost cause. Thus, in order to prevent the confrontation from becoming a conflict – or even war – it is going to be necessary to establish some collaborative terrain on global issues in a context otherwise dominated by sharp contrasts. It is not the Congress but rather the American economic world that interacts and is heavily interdependent with the Chinese economy.
Why post-covid recovery needs women Empowerment, financing and rights
Post-covid recovery needs women. Women’s empowerment is pivotal to tapping our society’s potential and meeting the challenges of the coming years. The digital revolution and the ecological transition are processes poised to stimulate the raising of a new development model above the wreckage the pandemic will have left behind. The need to draft new paradigms is precisely what makes diversity and broader vision at all levels, starting with decision makers, fundamental.
Digital Platforms
The digital revolution has profoundly changed how goods and services are consumed by increasing their availability online, thereby enhancing the role of web platforms. Indeed, these latter have been an essential tool for extending political rights such as freedom of speech, and for framing new ones, especially within the economic sphere, such as consumer rights. At the same time, however, they have laid the groundwork for a concentration of overriding powers, and the abuse of those powers.
Foreign policy: a lever for economic development
Today’s international scenario is distinguished by a strong interdependence of foreign policy and domestic priorities, particularly as a lever for economic development. The pandemic has once again confirmed the need for broad multilateral cooperation in the spirit of “build back better”. This in terms of sustainable transition (production as well as consumption) and fairness, along with the management of regional and global conflicts and tensions.
Governing a community. Public administration and citizenry
In corporations and in cities, it is people that make the difference. This was the theme of a discussion with Marco Bucci, one-time corporate manager in Italy and the United States and now mayor of the city of Genoa.
Towards digital, ethical and social sustainability: a competence-based path
Training is going to be key to the post-pandemic economic recovery. Indeed, with the crisis having accentuated social divisions, the accelerating digitization process has even more starkly foregrounded the skills divide.
Defining new standards for a rule-based international order
The national and regional rules applied during the pandemic and the subsequent economic and financial downturn are fragmenting the global economy, reducing transparency and fueling injustice. In an effort to buck this trend, it would seem opportune to discuss the need for establishing a series of global legal standards.
Territoriality and Health Policy
The pandemic has highlighted the fragility and disparities of a National Health Service already hard put to confront the combination of an ageing population and the growing incidence of chronic pathologies. As a result, the political agenda is now focused on striking a new balance between macro assistance levels (moreover, previously indicated in “fiscal federalism” reforms) and the proportioning of related standard costs.
The reform of justice and business
Two underlying problems were identified and discussed during a conversation with Minister of Justice Marta Cartabia: citizens’ limited trust in judges (cited as a “moral issue”), and the excessive length of trials. The latter, especially in the prosecution of tax evasion, has a significant detrimental impact on the economy.
The challenge of pandemic under-preparedness: the size of the problem, its impact and the best strategies for efficient health systems
The Covid-19 pandemic has ramped up the pressure on healthcare systems around the world, burdening already limited resources and existing capabilities. In order to ensure the quality and efficiency of services for all, healthcare systems need to build and improve their ability to be prepared for crises, while at the same time enhancing their essential primary functions. The discussion touched on the crucial aspects to be considered in making systems more efficient by reinforcing prevention.
Recovery and Resilience Facility and “Eurobond”: what news for the EU?
The bulk of the Recovery Plan’s massive investments are in the form of the Eurobonds with which the European Union plans to stimulate the continent’s post-pandemic economy. Nevertheless, their introduction – a proposal dating back to the late 1980s aimed at encouraging investments and infrastructure – could represent a veritable paradigm shift in EU policy. Fostering that, in the first place, would be the continent’s strategic autonomy in a range of sectors currently in need of a common vision with regard to protection and enhancement.
Post pandemic mobility: flexible, integrated, sustainable
Mobility is one of the key concerns in the post-Covid recovery. The pandemic that has forced millions to stay at home for extended periods of time has surely changed habits, and the consequences of this are likely to last well into the future. This is true both from the standpoint of work arrangements – with companies already predicting significant future reductions in hours spent in the office – and with regards to leisure activity and consumption. Flexibility in the use of public spaces and an increased dependence on home deliveries are becoming part of the new normal.
Recovery Plan for the new generation
The European Union response to the pandemic’s economic consequences has been the unprecedented mobilization of 2.4 billion euro in resources. The largest slice of the pie – 672.5 billion – will be earmarked for financing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, half of which is to be disbursed in the form of subsidies and the other half in loans. The end of austerity and renewed Member State solidarity have made it possible for Italy to count on 200 billion euro in such subsidies and loans.
Managing migration flows while living with a pandemic: lessons learned and new tools
The international landscape, for both Europe and for Italy, has changed significantly since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, pushing migration issues even more sharply to the fore. The movement of persons has not ceased and migratory flows toward Europe remain considerable, albeit asymmetrical. An example is how movement toward Greece has diminished while Italy is seeing an approximately three-fold increase, mainly from Tunisia and Libya.
Aspen Forum Italy/France
What were already solid Italian-French relations have become even stronger as the two nations have confronted the challenges posed by the pandemic, the first and most restrictive of these having had to do with the second wave. The continuous coordination France and Italy have set in motion is emblematic of the unified European reaction that followed an initial lack of cooperation during the first phase of the emergency. Today’s joint European efforts on a vaccine is proof that the Union can play a decisive role in this crisis, with benefits across its entire membership.
Italy’s post-pandemic future. Proposals by Aspen Institute Italia
It is in times of emergency that the future must be planned. With this aspiration, the Aspen Institute Italia community provided numerous proposals for relaunching Italy’s economy after the pandemic crisis. This document is an overview of this commitment, fed by the spirit of pluralism and of frank and constructive service to the community for national cohesion – elements that have characterized the initiative of Aspen Institute Italia over nearly forty years of analyses and debates. Produced by a Group of Experts, led by Professor Alberto Quadrio Curzio, the document arranges hundreds of proposals, assessing their feasibility and breaking them down into five chapters: Enterprise, Investment, Infrastructure, Innovation, and Institutions.
A recipe to relaunch Italy’s economy
Italy must not underestimate the challenge of generating economic recovery using Next Generation EU resources. Europe, after so many years of hesitancy, made a decided shift in gears when it reached out to the market to collect the funds for reconstruction. It is now up to individual countries to submit credible recovery plans. There are various glitches to be resolved when it comes to the Italian situation – first among them being to formulate a consistent vision of the country’s future.
Generational turnover in Italy
Business is the fundamental agent in the recovery of an economy struck as dramatically by the pandemic as Italy’s has been. To determine whether that recovery will be a success we need to consider the system’s economic armature of countless small and medium-sized family-run enterprises. Today’s generational hand-over becomes even more important than it has been over recent decades. At stake is the result of the major challenges awaiting national manufacturing: the digital transformation and the environmental transition.
Doing business in Italy
“Doing business” is a term that evokes complexity and challenge, especially when paired with “in Italy”, a country well known for its structural problems and irreconcilable contradictions: Structural problems consisting of a slow and chaotic bureaucracy, lack of legal certainty – due to repeated impulsive legislative modifications as well as to inconsistency and sluggishness in the judicial application of the law – and excessive difficulty accessing credit; irreconcilable contradictions in the form, first, of constant references to entrepreneurs as the drivers of economic recovery clash, wi
Science, politics, society: different speeds, common challenges
The relationship between politics, science and society is playing an increasingly prominent role in rising to the challenges of modernity. A strong alliance of political institutions, scientists, experts and citizens is essential to defeating the global pandemic, but also an essential prerequisite for the success of policies aimed at inverting the advance of climate change and introducing new technologies and new solutions for boosting the quality of life, prosperity and wealth of modern societies.
Of pandemics and resilience. People, communities and development post Covid-19
The pandemic has unmasked the fragility of our self-assured, globalized, skill-savvy world. Even the most economically advanced countries’ primary response to this unknown virus was a low-tech social distancing, which has necessarily foregrounded the limitations of human action and knowledge. The Socratic paradox “I know that I do not know” encourages the kind of continuing fortification of basic research that calls for increased funding from the Italian government.