It takes a radical change in policies for the South. Need harshly contrast the political-bureaucratic intermediation that generates parasitic rents and welfarism. It is necessary to focus on the most modern forces, which also exist, through support for public and private investments and the formation of human capital. This, in a nutshell, is the conclusion they reach Claudius DeVincenti e Joseph Coco, who coordinated a large group of scholars and experts on southern issues made up of Astrid. Analysis and conclusions of the studies (all very valuable and in-depth) are now published in a volume edited by The Mill, entitled "A national question - Southern Italy from problem to opportunity".
De Vincenti, former Minister of Southern Italy and Territorial Cohesion in the Renzi and Gentiloni governments, opens a profound reflection on theworsening of the southern retreat compared to the rest of the country, retracing both the structural maladies from which the South has been suffering for a long time, and the errors of economic and social policies of the last three decades, after the disappearance of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno. An analysis already advanced by some on the more ancient causes of the delays in the development of the South is confirmed: on the one hand the lack of share capital, namely insufficient scholastic and professional training and relational incapacity, due to a certain suspicious familism towards the rest of the world, and on the other the affirmation of extractive ruling classes, that is, which live on the lazy intermediation of public resources, disinterested in (if not hindering) forces and initiatives capable of triggering positive growth.
Against this background, in recent decades, policies have been attempted which, instead of correcting the structural defects of the South, have favored them, condemning the South to stagnation: and thus, the idea of making the choice of policies start from the bottom up - advocated in particularly by Fabrizio Barca – ended up strengthening the local ruling classes, to the detriment of the forces that would have wanted to operate on the market. Between the lines of the text there is also a criticism of the choices of the current minister for the South, Giuseppe Provenzano: spending many billions for a general contribution relief, for all southern workers and not just new hires, is a choice criticized by Europe and above all of dubious effectiveness, as past experiences show. At the very least, such a massive intervention by the State should have been linked to negotiations with the unions to obtain a differentiated contractual renewal for the southern regions, in relation to the lower productivity of these areas.
The recipe for revolutionizing policies towards the South springs forcefully from the numerous analyzes that explore the various sectors of the economy and social life (from education to health, from businesses to infrastructure) and is efficiently summarized by De Vincenti and the excellent essay by Joseph Coco. It consists of focus on businesses, on the formation of human capital and on investments in infrastructure. The latter must be concentrated on projects aimed at improving the productivity of the system, and must not be dispersed in small scattered interventions. But all this needs a third element: profound change in decision-making processes, which focuses on automatic, streamlined and transparent mechanisms.
De Vincenti finds confirmation of the goodness of the political choices made during his ministerial experience (agreements for the South, automatic incentives, development contracts, special economic zones, Rest in the South for young people) choices which were then weakened by the yellow-green government and which strangely they were not taken over by the Giallorossi government.
Need break with the generic southern demands. It is now clear that investments have fallen, beyond the effects of the general crisis, not for lack of resources, but due to a chronic inability of the Southern Regions to plan, contract and manage spending. We therefore need to rethink decentralization, reduce the role of concertation between the most varied bodies which delays the decision-making process, launch incentive tools automatic and stable over time for companies. In this way it is possible to strengthen the modern and productive forces, which nevertheless continue to resist in the south, aiming to modify the social and political power relations to the detriment of the today dominant classes who live on parasitic intermediation.
It is clear that such a program must find the political legs to walk on. And today, apart from the small nucleus of liberal forces, we don't see any parties willing to bet on the subversion of the existing balances. The problem of the transition from the current patronage system to a new production system exists both from a political point of view (what are we going to do with the current ruling class, that of the Emilianos, De Lucas, Musumeci?) and from an economic point of view, given that it is necessary move a large part of the population from welfare living to productive employment. It must be kept in mind that an immutable socio-economic law states that bad money drives out good money. And this is what has happened several times in the past when we have seen local administrators hinder productive initiatives preferring to hand out subsidies. And when the promise of basic income pushed the southern masses towards the demagogic mirror waved by the 5 Stars.
However, De Vincenti's ministerial experience demonstrates that, by setting the correct policies, the South reacts promptly, so much so that, in the three-year period 2016-2018, it had recorded growth rates higher than those of the Centre-North. And this is proof that there is room to face the risk of change, focusing on the pride of the southerners who must above all become protagonists of the recovery, and therefore weigh on the choices of the entire country.
