Is Italy really doing better?

There is a fairly broad consensus that Italy’s structural economic situation is improving thanks to the policies conducted by Mario Draghi: reform of competition (public tenders, transport, energy); obtaining huge financing from Europe (EUR 191 billion over six years), reform of the land register, justice (shortening trial times) and pensions, announcement of tax reform (fight against tax evasion and tax loopholes, reduction in labour taxes and production taxes, simplification of VAT). But is there really reason to become optimistic about Italy’s economic outlook? Are there signs of structural improvement regarding: The education system and youth employability; The employment rate and structural unemployment; Productivity gains and the investment and modernisation effort; Public finances and the perception of investors; The financial situation of companies; The weight of industry and market shares? We see that Italy’s situation continues to deteriorate, in absolute terms and with respect to the other euro-zone countries, in all these criteria except the financial situation of companies. So the optimism about the structural situation of the Italian economy is greatly exaggerated.