EUCOM Economic Analysis - Part I

[Firn]

Capital import's desirability is overrated anyway.

Well that kind of line is not that helpful. Overrated to what? For which type of country in which type of economic circumstances? In which sector?

In any case a (much) better governace, labour&tax reform, a more efficient credit market and higher (total factor) productivity growth are more important issues then 'just' more (public) investment. Still it is just so amusing to read the generic PPP of the Italian gov with that clever goal to attract foreign direct investment and to have a couple of months later such a bad and stupid law. :


Voxeu has a couple of interesting articles looking at the Italian economy from different angles. It is important to keep in mind that countries like Germany and Austria profited by having easier access to cheap labour across the borders. That more Europeanized value chain made TFP growth considerably easier.