It will be one of the main “spearheads” of the election campaign. Pd and + Europa play an excellent card, that of Carlo Cottarelli, to try to make their way into the moderate area after Carlo Calenda’s breakout. The economist inspired the Action program and was considered one of the most expendable non-political exponents not only in the electoral phase but also in the post-vote perspective.
From the Monetary Fund to the spending review
The days in which, at the start of the legislature, he was called to the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to lead a government before the Lega and M5s overcame the deadlock. Cottarelli has been directing the Observatory on Italian public accounts of the Catholic University of Milan since November 2017. After having worked in the Bank of Italy and Eni, he moves on to the International Monetary Fund where, since 1998, he has been active in various departments leading units that have faced some of the heaviest budget crises in advanced economies. Of Inter faith and devourer of TV series (Games of Throne among the favorites), is told as a great worker with a rigorous approach. He was extraordinary commissioner for expenditure review, appointed by the Italian government, from October 2013 to November 2014.
“Give everyone a chance.” Italy at a crossroads
The progressive path chosen by Cottarelli has as its key “social justice, understood as the possibility of personal growth that everyone must have regardless of whether they were born to a wealthy family or not, whether they were born male or female, or whether they were born in the North, Center, South, or with disabilities or not. It is Article 3 of our Constitution: giving everyone a chance ». In the speech in which the economist explains the reasons for his new commitment, the difficulties in view are not denied. For Cottarelli «Italy is at an economic crossroads. The PNRR was vigorously pushed forward by the Draghi government. This, together with a prudent use of the resources made available by the European Union and the ECB has led to a strong recovery ”, he observes. He pointed out that “there are those who have prematurely destroyed the Draghi government and those who speak of renegotiating the NRP. And there are those who are under the illusion that the ECB must continue forever, even in different conditions of inflation, to print euros as if it were our ATM. Budget spaces will inevitably shrink. It becomes therefore essential to use the most limited resources wisely, giving priority to public education, health, public investments ”.
The hoaxes on the Italian economy
In his Pachyderms and parrots (2019) there are three factors identified at the basis of the success of economic hoaxes in Italy. The first is the ease with which the news transmitted online by anyone can reach millions of people, the second “the potential communicative effectiveness, allowed by the network itself, in combining words and images that speak to the stomach”. The third is “a more objective factor” and concerns “the disappointing performance of the Italian economy in the last quarter of a century”.
Human capital against territorial imbalances
Tax evasion, corruption, the slowness of bureaucracy, the slowness of justice, the demographic collapse, the gap between North and South. Cottarelli dedicated a book to the “deadly sins of the Italian economy” that historically keep foreign investors away. in which the crucial importance of human capital is underlined. “It is necessary to strengthen public education in the south, something I strongly believe in.”