Raising barriers

The voting patterns of political parties in the national parliaments of Greece, Italy and Spain, and of their members of the European Parliament, show …

Keynesian economics and the Italian Recovery Plan

The Italian government has recently presented the RRP (Recovery and Resilience Plan) to Parliament. On 30 April, it was sent to Brussels for initial …

Coronabonds offer the wrong path

The German newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’ published an open letter by well-known artists about an initiative to issue Coronabonds in order to share the burden …

The Case Against Tech Taxes

This paper explains why additional taxes on the turnover of companies with a large digital presence would be disproportionate, discriminatory and damage the European …

Rice regulations: Protectionism In Disguise

In January the European Union announced a ‘significant’ increase of customs duties on Indica rice produced in Cambodia and Myanmar and exported to the …

Some very Italian midsummer night’s questions on CETA

With the Italian Parliament still deep into its summer break, several important political and economic questions are gripping the minds of many voters. Leaving …

The Potential for the Italian Cannabis Market

Prior to the criminalisation of cannabis, the crop represented a significant facet of the Italian economy. In fact, in the 1940s, Italy was said …

Every promise is debt

Every euro of new debt today is a euro that is going to be paid by Italians through higher taxation, tomorrow. Until 4 March …

Super Index 2017

According the latest IBL Super Index, Italy is the sick man of Europe. Despite relatively rosy macroeconomic projections for the whole EU, the gap …

Europe’s non-performing loans: an Italian Problem

Within the European Union, the problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) is predominantly an Italian issue. Whilst Italian authorities have successfully passed a few different …

Early Elections in Italy? An Issue of democracy, corruption, and banks

With the potential for an early election by the end of the year, Italy must face the realities of its democratic system: cronyism and …

Eurexit – is leaving the Eurozone an option?

The upcoming months will be decisive for the future of the Euro. The French election, to be held on April 23rd (first round, followed …

European Superindex

It has been one year and a half since Professor Nicola Rossi and I started the Superindex at Istituto Bruno Leoni.
 
The Superindex …

The spectre of another lost decade

On Sunday night, following a shock negative result in a referendum on the constitutional reform he had championed, Matteo Renzi, Italy’s Prime Minister, announced …

Ageing Europe: A Mixed Blessing

Pension Systems and Politicians’ Temptations
 
It is common knowledge that Europeans are in their best physical shape ever. On average, in the European …

Natural disasters and the faults of state-funded reconstruction

Paolo Belardinelli // 19.09.2016
 
I hail from Marche, one of the regions hit by the recent earthquake in which 292 people died. Unfortunately, …

False claims about the Eurozone from the Brexit camp

Diego Zuluaga // 01.03.2016
As the debate on British membership of the European Union gathers steam, the Eurozone is getting a fair amount of …

How Italy is doing, without the romance

Giacomo Lev Mannheimer // 03.02.2016
The founder of Public Choice theory, Nobel Laureate James Buchanan, called it “politics without romance”. Buchanan wanted to show …

Could Italy’s economic stagnation also be due to a failure to protect property rights?

Giacomo Lev Mannheimer // 08.01.2016
Every year, several international organisations and think tanks monitor the index of economic freedom of different countries worldwide. Sometimes …

The dark side of Italy’s postal privatisation

Massimiliano Trovato and Alberto Mingardi // 28.10.2015
On the Cato at Liberty blog, Chris Edwards shared some hopeful thoughts on the fate of postal …

Are Green Jobs Real Jobs? The Case of Italy.

 
Luciano Lavecchia and Carlo Stagnaro, May 2010
 
The European Union has committed itself to increase the share of renewable energy up to …