Draghi purges liberal economists

The neo-Keynesian left can refer to a monopoly on the economic direction of government, while experts attributable to other cultural areas tend to be systematically excluded from political nominating bodies (but also from opportunities for further study). The plastic picture summarizing the trend is in a tweet by Minister Andrea Orlando: Tweet dated April 1st. The photo depicts a “symposium meeting on the economic and social consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.” Among those present at the event are Professor Emmanuel Felice, who has been an advisor to the Minister of Labor since July 2021 and who was the Economic Director of the Democratic Party at the time of the Nicola Zingaretti secretariat, and Professor Andrea Roventini, who would have been the M5s’ economics minister should grillini win the Previous political elections alone and that he was part of a “Covid19 task force” with Contebis.

In addition to the indication of the Giallorossi, the two economists share a letter published in Domani and addressed to Prime Minister Mario Draghi. A letter in which some confusion was aroused, to put it mildly, about some of the characters who should have been part of the recovery task force discussed: “…in the five names or so, along with some characters of recognized competence— You read, following the paper’s progress on the composition of the team – there is a disturbing presence of scientists who hold an extreme economic view characterized by unconditional confidence in the ability of markets to solve any economic and social problem independently.

The letter, which appeared in a full political media storm on the “Liberal Task Force” in June 2021, also included the signatures of Phyllis and Roventini. The “mistakes” of some economists included in the quintet lie, for subscribers, in the state’s impotence and in the geographical belonging to the Nordic countries. The unstated targets of the attack were, in hindsight, Professor Riccardo Bugliese, engineer Carlo Staniaro and researcher Francesco Filipucci: a trio of experts who, at the end of the exhibition, had not yet obtained any decree of appointment. Also in June 2021, Democratic Party Deputy Secretary Giuseppe Provenzano, who is part of the same post-Dicino trend in Orlando and who, together with the Secretary of Labor, is one of the few Democrats advocates who still has an open channel dialogue with Massimo D’Alema. “To coordinate and evaluate economic policy in the greatest season for public investment, is it appropriate to call laissez-faire? A lifetime of disgraceful public spending on Twitter, then…”, Provenzano, the former Minister of the South, was resounding at the time. Further evidence of how a certain left can still boast a clear ability to maneuver in power maneuvers.

On the other hand, an inverted fate was reserved for the other two economists who were supposed to be part of the “Five” to support the work of the Draghi government: Professor Marco Bercuko was appointed to the Technical Unit for Coordination of Economic Affairs of the Executive Branch. Policy in May 2021 and the same goes for Professor Carlo Campini, who in turn became official in the same month. Bercoco, for example, was part of the “Yes to the South” commission presented by Senator Salvatore Margiota, a member of the Democratic Party, on the topics of a constitutional referendum that Italians would have rejected. If the “survivors” of the five cannot be linked to the Democratic Party, it is equally clear – and they assure us – that they cannot even be defined as enemies of the existing political formation in the Nasserite. Moreover, for the politico-economic boycott of Enrico Letta and the neighbors, the question is simple: anyone who does not regard increased public spending as the panacea for all evils should be considered an “ultra-liberal” excluded.