Economic growth and prosperity are closely connected with the medium-high pace. Because development is based on integration and international trade. Translated: only peace can ensure the “prosperity” and the lasting development of “the economy” while war, net of the material and human damages (which are immeasurable), can only bring “transitory benefits” and also the military technology It is only useful if it is used in the civilian field, as in the case ofatomic energy or the internet. The governor of Bankitalia, Fabio Panetta.
Panetta, here's what the governor of Bankitalia said
It is a speech focused on the need to defend the positive aspects of globalization in the face of a world that is closing, but giving it a "conscience" and reducing "inequalities", that of the governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta at the San Domenico Center in BolognaThe occasion is the meeting Economy and Peace: A Possible Alliance promoted by Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation. Together with him the Cardinal Matthew Maria Zuppi, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bologna, and Annamaria Tarantula, former President of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation and with a long career in the Bank of Italy.
As an economist, the governor supports his thesis with graphs and numbers in hand. The first one highlights thesurge in world conflicts, a situation where "history now seems to be taking a step backwards" and the arms race has also resumed in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“Without peace – Panetta emphasized – humanity cannot prosper; nor can the economy”. The governor listed the damages and repercussions of every conflict and underlined how “the war effort supports aggregate demand and can stimulate innovation, but seriously distorts its purposes. The economic benefits, however, are transitory and do not eliminate the need to reconvert the economy once the conflict is over”. And it is wrong to “attribute the credit for technological progress to military spending”.
“Military investment can generate innovation if used in research” he said, recalling how the Manhattan project, developed in the United States during World War II, made possible the exploitation of nuclear energy. Similarly, the Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) program, launched in the 1950s, is linked to the birth of the Internet.
In an increasingly closed and torn world where there is talk of protectionism on the part of the next Trump administration, it is therefore necessary to save the 'good' of globalization: the "free circulation of goods, capital, people and ideas" has lifted millions of people out of extreme poverty, reduced conflicts and inequalities between states. But internal inequalities have remained, political freedoms have not grown, a large part of Africa is still at a standstill. This is why globalization "is today perceived by many, rightly or wrongly, as an elitist project".
It is therefore not only an ethical question. The contrast and the reduction of inequalities “It is a prerequisite for development: if a significant part of the population is excluded from economic opportunities, the entire economy suffers,” he stresses. “Reducing income and opportunity gaps is essential not only to build a more just and equitable society, but also to ensure social stability.”
