Italian x Crisis (Alesina & Giavazzi)

The Italian situation: Clarification and a prediction by Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi, published by VOXEU. “As Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announces a new austerity bill based on tax rises, this column argues that the country’s leaders are in denial – it is as if they are trying to take aspirin to hide the symptoms of pneumonia. The authors predict that, with the current political class in power, Italy will soon enter another recession and, eventually, another crisis.”