> Italy, like the rest of south europe is hobbled by an army of bureaucrats doing busywork and their jobs are the first to be threatened by an AI speaking fluent Italian. So it helps them to keep unemployment from getting even higher
I wonder whether there are real hard numbers supporting this statement. Not saying it's not true, just wondering whether it actually is.
I checked once for another country of South Europe and the reality was that both France and Germany had more "bureocrats" (public servants) per capita, contrary to public perception.
There are many things we all think are true that, when actually checked, turn out to be false. Sometimes it's a matter of false stereotypes and sometimes it's something that was true at some point but it's not anymore.
For example, about social mobility: USA is known as the land of the opportunities and a much more open and meritocratic place than Europe. That was certainly the case when it was founded. But the reality is that in the last decades (Western) Europe's social cohesion system created a much more favourable environment for children of poor people to prosper somewhat equal opportunities to children of medium and high earners (good and cheap/affordable public education, strong social network of public services,...), while the opposite trend took place in the USA. The results are quite outstanding:
https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-social-mobility-index...