Who is Cottarelli, the “master spending review” that Lita wants for the Treasury

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It will be one of the main “spearheads” of the election campaign. Pd and + Europa play an excellent card, the Carlo Cottarelli card, to try to make their way into the temperate zone after hacking Carlo Calenda. The economist was an inspiration for the program of work and considered one of the most consumable non-political exponents, not only in the electoral phase but also in a post-vote perspective.

From the IMF to the spending review

The days when the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, at the beginning of the Legislative Assembly, was summoned to Quirinale to lead the government before the Lega and M5s overcame the stalemate. Cottarelli has been managing the Italian Public Accounts Observatory of the Catholic University of Milan since November 2017. After working for the Bank of Italy and Eni, he moved to the International Monetary Fund, where, starting in 1998, he was active in various leadership departments that faced some of the most severe budget crises in advanced economies . Among the faith and apathy of the TV series (throne games among my favourites), as a great worker with a strict approach. He served as the Extraordinary Commissioner for the Audit of Expenditures, appointed by the Italian Government, from October 2013 to November 2014.

“Give everyone a chance.” Italy at a crossroads

The progressive path that Cottarelli chose for him is “the chief social justice, understood as the possibility of personal growth that every person should have regardless of whether or not he was born into a wealthy family, whether they were born male or female, or whether they were born in the North or center, south, with disability or not. It is Article 3 of our constitution: giving a chance to all.” In the speech the economist explains the reasons for his new commitment, the difficulties that exist are not denied. For Cottarelli, “Italy stands at a crossroads economically The PNRR has been aggressively pushed forward by the Draghi government. This, combined with the judicious use of resources provided by the European Union and the European Central Bank, has allowed for a strong recovery,” he notes. He pointed out that “there are those who prematurely destroyed the Draghi government and those who talk about renegotiating the nationalist party. There are those who have the illusion that the European Central Bank should go on forever, even in different conditions of inflation, to print the euro as if it were our ATM.” Budget spaces will inevitably shrink. It therefore becomes necessary to use the most limited resources wisely, prioritizing public education, health and public investments.”

Hoaxes on the Italian economy

in Pachyderms and parrots (2019) Three factors have been identified based on the success of economic hoaxes in Italy. The first is the ease with which news transmitted over the Internet can be reached by any person to millions of people, and the second is “the potential communication effectiveness of the network itself, in the combination of words and images that speak to the stomach”. The third factor is a “more objective factor” and relates to the “disappointing performance of the Italian economy in the last quarter of a century”.

Human capital against regional imbalances

Tax evasion, corruption, slow bureaucracy, slow justice, demographic collapse, the North-South divide. Cottarelli dedicated a book to the “fatal sins of the Italian economy” that historically have kept foreign investors away. The critical importance of human capital was emphasized. “It is essential to promote public education in the South, which I strongly believe in.”