Download or read book Italy Quantifying the Benefits of a Comprehensive Reform Package written by Michal Andrle and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-03-16 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper seeks to quantify the net benefits of a comprehensive reform package aimed at addressing Italy’s inter-related challenges. Specifically, it simulates the growth and competitiveness effects of a package of fiscal, financial, wage bargaining, and other structural reforms. Credible implementation of such a package yields substantial mediumterm dividends at negligible near-term growth costs. Real GDP growth is estimated to be substantially higher over the medium term, while the real effective exchange rate depreciates notably.

Download or read book Identifying Service Market Reform Priorities in Italy written by Nazim Belhocine and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-02-21 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Italy’s labor productivity in market services has declined since 2000, underperforming manufacturing and peer European countries, especially in strongly regulated sectors. A model of monopolistic competition is used to identify which service sectors would benefit more from removing entry and/or exit barriers. Using Italian firm-level data, the paper finds that sectors with high markups, such as professional services, would primarily benefit from removing entry barriers. Sectors with a large mass of unproductive firms, such as retail, would instead benefit from removing exit barriers. Policy recommendations to improve efficiency are outlined in relation to the sectoral priorities identified in the data.

Download or read book Competitiveness and Wage Bargaining Reform in Italy written by Mr.Alvar Kangur and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-03-16 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growth of Italian exports has lagged that of euro area peers. Against the backdrop of unit labor costs that have risen faster than those in euro area peers, this paper examines whether there is a competitiveness challenge in Italy and evaluates the framework of wage bargaining. Wages are set at the sectoral level and extended nationally. However, they do not respond well to firm-specific productivity, regional disparities, or skill mismatches. Nominally rigid wages have also implied adjustment through lower profits and employment. Wage developments explain about 45 percent of the manufacturing unit labor cost gap with Germany. In a search-and-match DSGE model of the Italian labor market, this paper finds substantial gains from moving from sectoral- to firm-level wage setting of at least 3.5 percentage points lower unemployment (or higher employment) rate and a notable improvement in Italy’s competitiveness over the medium term.

Download or read book Labor Costs and Corporate Investment in Italy written by Daniel Garcia-Macia and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-02-21 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recovery of private investment in Italy has lagged its euro area peers over the past decade. This paper examines the role of elevated labor costs in hindering the recovery. Specifically, labor costs rose faster than labor productivity prior to the global financial crisis and have remained high since, weighing on firms’ profits, capital returns, and thus capacity to invest. Empirical analysis provides evidence for the impact of wages on investment at the sectoral and firm levels. Sectoral wage growth seems unrelated to sectoral productivity growth, but is negatively associated with investment. Firm-level data permit a better identification—by exploiting the interaction between sectoral wage growth (exogenous to the firm) and the lagged labor share of the firm. A 1 percent increase in real wages is estimated to cause a 1/3 percent fall in fixed capital. Profits absorb only 1⁄2 of the cost increase, pointing to the role of liquidity constraints. These results highlight the need for labor market reform to reinvigorate investment, and thus labor productivity and job creation.

Download or read book Italy written by International Monetary Fund. European Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-02-06 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Selected Issues paper uses the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union (EUROMOD) to evaluate possible reforms to modernize Italy’s social safety net as well as ways to lower the tax wedge on labor. With a social safety net centered on pensions and the elderly and an array of income support schemes as well as a heavy tax burden falling on labor income, there is significant scope to improve Italy’s system of taxes and transfers to promote growth and inclusion. The paper also simulates the cost of a modern safety net using EUROMOD. The paper also provides an overview of Italy’s personal income tax regime, simulates the cost of moving toward a flatter regime that has previously been proposed by the government coalition and discusses some key reform principles. It is concluded that Italy needs a modern social safety net and a lower tax wedge on labor as part of a growth-friendly and inclusive fiscal consolidation package.

Download or read book A Strategy for IMF Engagement on Social Spending written by International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-06-14 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper uses case studies to explore the nature and extent of past IMF engagement on social spending issues and to draw lessons for future engagement.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Effects of Japan s Demographics Can Structural Reforms Reverse Them written by Mariana Colacelli and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-11-28 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yes, partly. This paper studies the potential role of structural reforms in improving Japan’s outlook using the IMF’s Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal Model (GIMF) with newly-added demographic features. Implementation of a not-fully-believed path of structural reforms can significantly offset the adverse effect of Japan’s demographic headwinds — a declining and ageing population — on real GDP (by about 15 percent in the next 40 years), but would not boost inflation or contribute substantially to stabilizing public debt. Alternatively, implementation of a fully-credible structural reform program can contribute significantly to stabilizing public debt because of the resulting increase in inflation towards the Bank of Japan’s target, while achieving the same positive long-run effects on real GDP. If no reforms are implemented, severe demographic headwinds are expected to reduce Japan’s real GDP by over 25 percent in the next 40 years.

Download or read book Quantifying the Benefits of Liberalising Trade in Services written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2003-06-04 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amongst other issues, the papers in this volume explore fundamental issues for empirical research on trade in services. It highlights the specific data requirements and conceptual challenges for modelling liberalisation of services.

Download or read book What s In What s Out written by Amanda Glassman and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vaccinate children against deadly pneumococcal disease, or pay for cardiac patients to undergo lifesaving surgery? Cover the costs of dialysis for kidney patients, or channel the money toward preventing the conditions that lead to renal failure in the first place? Policymakers dealing with the realities of limited health care budgets face tough decisions like these regularly. And for many individuals, their personal health care choices are equally stark: paying for medical treatment could push them into poverty. Many low- and middle-income countries now aspire to universal health coverage, where governments ensure that all people have access to the quality health services they need without risk of impoverishment. But for universal health coverage to become reality, the health services offered must be consistent with the funds available—and this implies tough everyday choices for policymakers that could be the difference between life and death for those affected by any given condition or disease. The situation is particularly acute in low- and middle income countries where public spending on health is on the rise but still extremely low, and where demand for expanded services is growing rapidly. What’s In, What’s Out: Designing Benefits for Universal Health Coverage argues that the creation of an explicit health benefits plan—a defined list of services that are and are not available—is an essential element in creating a sustainable system of universal health coverage. With contributions from leading health economists and policy experts, the book considers the many dimensions of governance, institutions, methods, political economy, and ethics that are needed to decide what’s in and what’s out in a way that is fair, evidence-based, and sustainable over time.

Download or read book OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform Regulatory Reform in Italy 2001 written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2001-04-04 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OECD's 2001 review of regulatory reform in Italy.

Download or read book Risk Aspects of Investment Based Social Security Reform written by John Y. Campbell and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-02-15 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our current social security system operates on a pay-as-you-go basis; benefits are paid almost entirely out of current revenues. As the ratio of retirees to taxpayers increases, concern about the high costs of providing benefits in a pay-as-you-go system has led economists to explore other options. One involves "prefunding," in which a person's withholdings are invested in financial instruments, such as stocks and bonds, the eventual returns from which would fund his or her retirement. The risks such a system would introduce—such as the volatility in the market prices of investment assets—are the focus of this offering from the NBER. Exploring the issues involved in measuring risk and developing models to reflect the risks of various investment-based systems, economists evaluate the magnitude of the risks that both retirees and taxpayers would assume. The insights that emerge show that the risk is actually moderate relative to the improved return, as well as being balanced by the ability of an investment-based system to adapt to differences in individual preferences and conditions.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Italy written by Andrea Mammone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Italy provides a comprehensive account of Italy and Italian politics in the 21st Century. Featuring contributions from many leading scholars in the field, this Handbook is comprised of 28 chapters which are organized to deliver unparalleled analysis of Italian society, politics and culture. A wide range of topics are covered, including: Politics and economy, and their impact on Italian society Parties and new politics Regionalism and migrations Public memories Continuities and transformations in contemporary Italian society. This is an essential reference work for scholars and students of Italian and Western European society, politics, and history.

Download or read book OECD Economic Surveys Italy 2000 written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2000-05-24 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OECD's 2000 Economic Survey of Italy examines recent economic developments, policies and prospects and includes special chapters on structural reforms and public spending.

Download or read book Italy written by International Monetary Fund. European Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-02-06 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 2018 Article IV Consultation highlights that Italy has been struggling with low economic growth and poor social outcomes and structural weaknesses have been at the core of this economic underperformance. Growth is projected to slow further, and the risk of recession has risen. The extent to which risks materialize depends largely on Italy’s policies. The authorities felt strongly that a fiscal stimulus is needed to promote economic growth and improve social outcomes. The authorities are also seeking to reduce temporary employment and support job search. The report suggests that faster potential growth is the only durable way for Italy to improve outcomes and enhance resilience. A package of structural reforms, a credible fiscal consolidation based on growth-friendly and inclusive measures, and bank balance sheet strengthening structural reforms, fiscal policy, and financial stability are also recommended. As by facilitating re-alignment of wages with productivity at the firm and regional levels, Italy’s high structural unemployment would fall, as would the continued heavy resort to temporary employment.

Download or read book Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Download or read book OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform Italy 2009 Better Regulation to Strengthen Market Dynamics written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This review of regulatory reform in Italy presents a general picture of the overall regulatory reform frameworks in Italy, examining quality regulation, competition policy and professional services. The review also offers a special focus on multi-level governance.

Download or read book Negotiating Change written by Carol Diane St Louis and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2011 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the last decades, advanced industrial democracies have been confronted by the long term pressures of globalisation, rising and persistent unemployment, ageing populations, rising health care costs, and the severe, but shorter-term shocks of recession, currency runs, and other troubles. The international political economy literature is rife with observations that states are under increasing pressure to reduce taxes and to trim their budgets, and recent austerity efforts in Europe and the United States support the view that governments are responding to these intensifying economic and political incentives by constraining their spending. Simultaneously, governments encounter political pressures to maintain or expand their social welfare safety nets in order to meet the needs of their most vulnerable populations - the unemployed and underemployed, the sick and disabled, pensioners, and the poor. Despite these common pressures, there has been a great degree of divergence over the last decades. Variation endures in terms of the aggregate levels of taxation and expenditures and the distribution of costs and benefits among the citizenry. Reforms have differed in regard to whether they are approached in a confrontational manner by the government alone or in consensual, negotiated process that includes the parliamentary opposition, trade unions, and employers' associations. Some painful reforms have been met with massive strikes and protests, while other painful reforms have been accepted with relative equanimity. Finally, there has been a great deal of variance in the ability of various governments to adopt and implement their reform packages and to survive the potential backlash in response to these reforms. Considering the cases of France, Italy, and Germany during the 1990s, this dissertation sheds new light on the factors determining the approach to reform, the distribution of costs and benefits, and the likelihood that governments will succeed in their attempts to adopt and implement reforms. Chapter 1 introduces the core questions, presents a brief overview of the theory, and explains the methodology and case selection. Chapter 2 develops a theoretical framework for understanding: (a) the factors that lead governments to adopt a particular approach to a reform, (b) the role that partisanship plays in determining the distributional implications of reform, (c) the effect that the approach and the distributional implications of the reform have upon how the parliamentary opposition, the social partners, and the public respond to the reform, and (d) the role that response plays in determining the ultimate fate of the reform - and, in some cases, the fate of that government. Chapter 3 considers the experiences of France, exploring the theory's ability to explain a case of a typical state facing conflicting economic and political pressures to reform its economic, fiscal, and social welfare policies. Chapter 4 tests the theory's applicability to Italy, a country undergoing a particularly high level of economic and political stress. Chapter 5 focuses upon the apparently deviant case of Germany, where both the reform approach and the distributional implications of the reform seem to run counter to the theory's predictions. Deep examination of the role of party factions and shifts in the balance of power within the governing coalition reveals the importance of considering the preferences of the reform leadership rather than the coalition as a whole in order to generate accurate predictions and interpretations. Chapter 6 concludes with an overview of generalisable conclusions and future research directions.