There is broad agreement on the appropriateness of the budget deficit target. The government aims to strengthen expenditure control and efficiency, at the national and at subnational levels, to achieve a reduction in the tax burden while cutting the fiscal deficit. The IMF staff suggested...

Italy has made impressive strides in achieving deep-rooted macroeconomic stability. But growth has disappointed over the past decade. The government has laid out a bold agenda to reinvigorate growth. Specifics of an expenditure and tax reform agenda should be laid out early. A key to achieving...

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that a cyclical recovery is under way for Italy, with real GDP having risen by 1.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2004 relative to the same period of the previous year, thanks to the favorable external environment and a recovery of investment....

This 2012 Article IV Consultation focuses on Italy’s economy, which is expected to continue contracting through the year owing to tight financial conditions, global slowdown, and the needed fiscal consolidation. The government has embarked on wide-ranging structural reforms to boost...

Italy’s economic development after the recession is analyzed in this study. Earnings were hampered by low net interest and high loan-loss provisions, but banks remained profitable. A large and stable retail funding base and ample collateral to access eurosystem refinancing helped Italian banks...

Perhaps it does. We propose a model in which workers with little education or in the tails of the age distribution the inexperienced and the old have more chance of job failure (mismatch). Recruits' average education should then increase and the standard deviation of starting age decrease when...