Abstract:
The economic growth of Italy in the last twenty years was one of the worst across OECD countries. When looking for some causes, it is found that for 21 countries in the period 1997-2011, the growth rate of per capita GDP is positively related to initial human capital (proxied by the growth rate of tertiary school enrolments) and the research and development expenditure. Moreover Italy has some other typical characteristics: high deficit, increasing labor cost, high tax wedge, lack of innovation and some other structural problems.
