We try to explain why Italy's labor productivity stopped growing in the mid-1990s. We find no evidence that this slowdown is due to trade dynamics, Italy's inefficient governmental apparatus, or excessively protective labor regulations. By contrast, the data suggest that Italy's slowdown was more likely caused by the failure of its firms to take full advantage of the ICT revolution. While many institutional features can account for this failure, a prominent one is the lack of meritocracy in the selection and rewarding of managers. Familyism and cronyism are the ultimate causes of the Italian disease.Read more at NBER Working Papers.
Monday, October 30, 2017
New NBER Working Paper: Diagnosing the Italian Disease
A new working paper by Bruno Pellegrino and Luigi Zingales. From the abstract:
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From two graduates of the Suffolk University PhD program in Economics I had the pleasure of knowing and working with over the years. Here...
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OVERVIEW The unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.9 percent in December with payrolls expanding by 312,000 jobs, according to the Bureau ...
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