Welcome to Britain, headlines the last cover of theEconomist. And already the murmur of jokes is heard, between the sarcastic and the scandalized, in the exclusive circles for men only of high finance.
But what would this kind of crasis, with a leapfrog sound? The summary explains: a country characterized by political instability, low growth and subordination to financial markets (free translation). Therefore, a fantastic place, in the sense of a child of the imagination, not synonymous with wonderful.
Touch, one might say. We have been repeating for decades that the disease of slow growth undermines Italy's civil and social health, as well as the wallet of Italians. And the sovereign debt crisis it was a blow for us that added a few million poor people to the long queue caused by the great recession of 2009.
What about political instability? Well, already here we would have to complain: there is no other advanced country where the ruling political class is so long-lived. Thus becoming part of the problem, as can be clearly understood from the tragicomic statements of those who have been part of it for almost thirty years now.
The usual silly English stereotypes about Italy
But above all on that cover the illustration that recalls Italy in the shield in the shape of a pizza by the slice and in the forked spear that pierces a nice roll of spaghetti dripping with tomato cries out for revenge. Apart from the fact that the Italian cooking is slightly more evolved (375 Michelin stars, second only to the French which has 628; the United Kingdom – for how long? – has 187), as are the production of wines and beer, it remains that the Bel Paese has a few points of complexity more than in the UK. And let's not talk about natural beauty, cultural heritage and variety of characters of the inhabitants. But of industrial skills. Not by chance theItalian economy it is second only to Germany for the articulation of exports.
Italy in pole position on the space economy, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals
Here, instead of spaghetti there should have been the glass capsule built in Turin by Thales for the International Space Station or the microsatellites by Picosats from Trieste. Because, listen, Italy is among the first nations in the world in the space economy. Also, though food, fashion e furniture give great prestige to Italian ingenuity and good taste (beautiful and well done, as Mario Boselli taught us), the spearhead of Made in Italy is metalworking (a third of exports) and in particular machinery ( 53% of the manufacturing surplus); i.e. very complex goods with a high content of knowledge.
Another large slice of our assets in foreign accounts, to go back to what was written above The hands of the economy of last July 9, comes from the chemical-pharmaceutical sector (10%) and from the metallurgical sector (still 10%). About pharmaceuticals: Italy is second in Europe, ahead of France and, of course, the United Kingdom, and attracts investment in research, but this is another story, which will be worth returning to.
For the rest, we don't need to be scolded by His Majesty's subjects (the defects of the hereditary monarchy are clearly seen now that you are no longer here!). Instead, we want and must re-read the thought of a great Italian, Paolo Sylos Labini, great as an economist and as a man, who admired the governance and the British meritocracy (who knows how disappointed it would be today) and, encouragingly, he repeated at each of our meetings: "We're in a sewer, but if we all push together we'll get out".
