Public debt and growth in Italy: analysis and policy proposals

The Italian economy is characterized by a considerable amount of public debt and low growth for over a decade. This is a key issue both at a theoretical and policy level. The relationship between public debt and economic growth is widely discussed in the economic literature, since in many countries spending is rising faster than income, leading to widening budget deficits and higher levels of debt. However, the empirical literature generally highlighted the heterogeneity of the debt-growth nexus. This paper summarizes four working papers written by the author in the period from 2007 to 2014, where the structural problems of the Italian economy are identified, and the critical aspects related to Italy high debt and its low growth is emphasized. The contribution aims at discussing possible policy actions to address the Italian structural problems in the current situation. In particular, the paper underlines the importance of a long-term strategy for growth, to boost productivity and the potential growth of the Italian economy. In addition, it focuses on fiscal policy emphasizing the strategic role both of spending optimization and of tax collections through, for instance, digitizing the tax collection process in order to contribute to the long-term sustainability of sovereign Italian debt.