Meritocracy, growth, and lessons from Italy's economic decline : lobbies (and ideologies) against competition and talent / Lorenzo Codogno, Giampaolo Galli.
The book draws lessons on the importance of rewarding merit for economic growth by analysing Italy's decline in the past few decades. Connections rather than merit are a long-standing feature of the Italian elites, even in the corporate sector. This became a significant problem when Italy could...
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| Online Access: | Electronic book from Oxford Scholarship Online |
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: | Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022] |
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Table of Contents:
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Introduction: Why a book in English on Italy's decline?
- PART I MERITOCRACY AND DECLINE
- 1. In a nutshell
- 1.1 What is meritocracy?
- 1.2 Meritocracy and equality of opportunity
- 1.3 The enemies of meritocracy: vested interests and lobbies
- 1.4 Meritocracy and moral standards
- 1.5 Why did growth stall in Italy?
- 1.6 Meritocracy versus connections and lobbies
- 1.7 Historical legacies and social capital
- 1.8 The interplay of social capital and meritocracy
- 1.9 Egalitarianism and the 'long '68'
- 1.10 The 1975 wage indexation accord, inflation, and debt
- 2. Italy's decline: stylised facts
- 2.1 Half a century of crises
- 2.2 The 1970s: inflation
- 2.3 The 1980s: public debt
- 2.4 The 1990s: crisis and hope
- 2.5 The new millennium: the two original sins
- 2.6 From the GFC and the sovereign debt crisis to NGEU
- 2.7 Italy, the sick nation of the advanced world
- 2.8 The facts about growth and productivity
- 2.9 Why low productivity?
- 2.10 Facts about the debt and the budget
- 2.11 Methodology
- 2.12 The Prosperity Index
- 2.13 Appropriate use of international rankings
- 2.14 Italy's ranking
- PART II COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE: SOCIETY
- 3. Legacies of a troubled history
- 3.1 Low mutual trust
- 3.2 Historical legacy and trust
- 3.3 Democratic legitimacy and meritocracy
- 3.4 Some unpleasant truths about SMEs
- 4. Lobbies in government
- 4.1 Trust and governance
- 4.2 Difficult transitions of power: Berlusconi and the 'red togas'
- 4.3 The rise and fall of populism
- 4.4 The government, ubiquitous and untraceable
- 4.5 Lobbying by rule-makers
- 4.6 Attempts at institutional reforms
- 4.7 Powerful lobbies: magistrates
- 4.8 Is Italy corrupt?
- 5. Lobbies in education
- 5.1 Low level of education
- 5.2 Egalitarianism for whom?
- 5.3 Funding of universities
- 5.4 Ranking of universities
- 5.5 Attempts at reform
- 5.6 Lobbies against merit
- 5.7 The North-South divide in education
- 5.8 Low return to education
- PART III COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE: ECONOMY
- 6. Key problems and inequities of Italy's economy
- 6.1 Confirmation and some surprises
- 6.2 The blunder of the gender gap
- 6.3 Schumpeter forgotten
- 6.4 Professional managers?
- 6.5 Antitrust versus many large and small lobbies
- 6.6 Exports: good, not excellent
- 6.7 The drama of the North-South divide
- 6.8 Quality of government in the regions of Italy
- 6.9 Inequality and social mobility
- 6.10 Gerontocracy
- 7. Competitiveness
- 7.1 Low foreign direct investment
- 7.2 Connections and corporate governance
- 7.3 Relationship finance
- 7.4 The burden of regulation
- 7.5 Lobbying by tax evaders
- 7.6 The rage of taxpayers
- 8. Egalitarianism and labour
- 8.1 Reforms and Penelope's shroud
- 8.2 Merit does not belong here