The rules (the conference)
( … back on the subject , linking up again to save the date …)
In my last speech in the classroom:
I had, thanks to some of you (those who voted for me …), the precious opportunity to affirm two principles of which I am sufficiently convinced to offer them to public discussion (which does not mean "affirming them as absolute truths", but, precisely, make them the subject of debate):
- in the absence of a sufficiently incisive promotion of early home therapies , in November it will recover with lockdowns (which is why the date of # goofy10 this year was set for the weekend 15-17 October, and do you know how precisely the date of the # goofy9 : we were locked up in the house the day after the conference closed …);
- no reform of European rules can be sufficiently incisive if these rules do not remove any reference to the concept of potential GDP and therefore to that of the output gap which, due to its theoretical groundlessness and its pro-cyclical nature, is a source of opacity, and deflationary distortion.
These are not two particularly original points. I won't dwell on the first one, it's not my field, and in any case four months pass quickly. To understand if the argument, which among other things found the premier's appreciation in the reply, is well founded, or rather: to force the "good ones" to admit that it is well founded, it will necessarily take much less than the last time .
On the second, however, perhaps it is necessary to dwell on it, because there is some reason for perplexity. I see at least two of them:
- knowing the European times, and knowing from the many voices of the many corridors what the attitude of our counterparts in the European Union is, I allow myself to express a respectful perplexity with respect to the idea that "we have all the time" . Personally I am afraid not, and I would like that the "hurry up" that is imposed on us on many issues, starting from that of the tax authorities, in the name of "Europe", the member states would oppose a polite but firm "hurry up" to the 'Europe' in the name of economic rationality;
- I do not see in the Italian debate, neither in the political nor in the public one, a sufficient awareness of what is wrong with the current system of tax governance , and I do not even see attempts to promote this awareness quickly enough.
Here too, on the first point there is little to do: it depends on what the prime minister calls "economic diplomacy" and what I call "power relations", relations that unfortunately have seen us succumb on many previous occasions.
On the second point ( raising awareness ), there is instead something to do, and this is what we have always done here: to promote the debate by summoning the best European intelligences to identify what actually are the causes of the evils that afflict us, and what therapies to propose , now strengthened not only by our knowledge of scientific literature, but also, perhaps I should say unfortunately, by our growing awareness of how institutions work (or don't).
For this reason you are all invited on 12 July next, starting at 2.30 pm at the Antonianum in Rome (the same auditorium where the #midterm goofy of 2014 took place) to a debate organized by the European parliamentary group Identity and Democracy (ID ), which will be attended by some eminent economists, closed by a round table in which parliamentarians from all the majority parties will participate. The theme of the conference will be "Rebalancing Europe". In the order will intervene Zsolt Darvas (of whom I point out this contribution ), Philipp Heimberger (of whom I have reported this important work here and who also received the attention of the Italian media for his effort in rebalancing the narration on the alleged vices of our country), and Antonella Stirati (of which I point out this work , which as you will remember was presented at # goofy9).
At the final round table, moderated by Andrea Pancani , will be attended, from left to right: Stefano Fassina , Tommaso Nannicini , Luigi Marattin , Mario Turco , Renato Brunetta and Alberto Bagnai . Out of six economic experts from the majority parties, five are university professors and one – the one furthest to the left! – worked at the IMF. Foreign colleagues will perhaps understand that the level of the Italian debate is less immature than they generally assume and I hope this helps them enrich their and our analysis. It will be a very important opportunity for exchange and I count on your presence.
Then, of course, there are those who say "it's all talk". They are the same ones who, on the other hand, when you fight in commission to defend the flat tax for VAT numbers (to give one example among many of a rather concrete thing) reproach you for having abandoned the ideal dimension of the debate and taking refuge in technicalities or detailed measures . Personally I believe that the debate, rectius : the Debate, was not so useless, if it led us, as it did, to witness this important Copernican revolution : it was time for someone to say that no agreement is better than a disadvantageous agreement! If anyone is sorry that Draghi did it, I don't know what to do with it. You know how much I fought for this principle to be affirmed earlier and possibly by others, those with whom I identified at the time and who in so many ways betrayed the trust I placed (did we place?) In them. The important thing is that certain ideas make their way, and above all that we then act consequently to them.
See you soon.
(… in accordance with COVID we will not be able to have more than 200 people in the room. You will be notified as soon as possible about the booking procedures. Of course, you, who are family, I could not fail to give this anticipation. Reservations will be made by sending an email to address that I will tell you, and they will be received in order of arrival, according to the "click day" mechanism. Stay online …)
This is a machine translation of a post (in Italian) written by Alberto Bagnai and published on Goofynomics at the URL https://goofynomics.blogspot.com/2021/06/le-regole-il-convegno.html on Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:23:00 +0000. Some rights reserved under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license.