This event is co-organised with CONGRIPS (Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society) and SISP (Società Italiana di Scienza Politica).
Unlike almost all European countries, Italy asked for the maximum amounts from the NextGenerationEU program. 6.5 out of 10 of these are loans. Although granted at subsidised rates, they will have to be repaid. The bet on which this choice rests is that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) will forever increase the growth rate of the Italian economy. It is a bet shared by three governments: Conte II, Draghi and Meloni. All governments have flaunted hyperbolic estimates of the positive effects of the NRPP, with no basis in reality. No government has addressed the issue of how to finance future investment management.
The NRPP is significantly delayed, but the core issue lies in its fundamental flaw: an excess of funds, pressure to spend hastily, and too little time to spend it well. The plan allocates substantial sums to unnecessary and harmful spending, neglecting crucial societal needs. Major reforms crucial for NRPP success are stalled or abandoned. The solution? Face reality, revise plans realistically, and consider relinquishing some borrowed funds. It's about maintaining ambition without superficiality – recognising that "No rhetoric and no flood of words can turn a confused or unrealistic idea into a good investment."
Tito Boeri is professor and head of the economics department at Bocconi University in Milan (where he had also been Pro-rector for research until fall 2014) and Senior Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics (where he was Centennial Professor). He has been senior economist at the OECD, consultant to the IMF, World Bank, EU, ILO as well as to the Italian Government. From March 2015 to February 2019 he served as President of INPS. He is Scientific Advisor to the Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti. He is a columnist for La Repubblica and has collaborated with Italian and foreign newspapers, including Il Sole24ore, La Stampa, the Financial Times and Le Monde. He is one of the founders of the economic information website www.lavoce.info and the federated English-language website www.voxeu.org. He is the scientific director of the Turin Festival of Economics.
Roberto Perotti is professor of Economics at Bocconi University. In 1991 he earned a PhD in Economics from MIT, and until 2001 taught at Columbia University, where he was an associate professor with tenure. He is a past editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association. His interests are macroeconomics and public finance. He is an associate of the CEPR and NBER. He is a regular contributor to the Italian daily La Repubblica.
Manuela Moschella is Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the Scuola Normale Superiore. She is one of the editors of the Review of International Political Economy and Associate Fellow at the Europe Programme at Chatham House. She is also an associate editor of the Routledge Studies in Globalisation Series. Her research focuses on the relationship between technocracy and politics, the role of institutions and economic ideas in economic policymaking, the politics of macroeconomic and financial regulatory choices, and the behavior of international organizations. Her detailed biography can be found here
Laura Polverari is Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Padua, where she also founded and directs the Institutional & Administrative Capacities Observatory, #CAPIS.
She currently serves as Book Review Editor and Regular Associate Editor of Regional Studies, as member of the Editorial Boards of Italian Political Science, Rivista Giuridica del Mezzogiorno and Regional Studies and Local Development.
Her main research interests include the design, implementation and evaluation of public policy; EU Cohesion Policy; PA reform, administrative capacity and capacity building; public policy accountability; multi-level governance, devolution and EU policies and policymaking. Her detailed biography can be found here