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Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

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Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#11

Post by nradov »

mistrial9 wrote: post #7
nradov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government policies that prevent economic growth and ensure high unemployment rates do nothing to benefit the middle class. It's better to limit worker rights because that makes employers more likely to hire workers in the first place. This improves growth rates and economic mobility.

> prevent economic growth and ensure high unemployment rates odd to hear reliable Chicago-School-of-Economics "facts" spoken with such confidence, while ignoring the change of local roads to superhiways, and 100 local retail stores closing at the same time. The very nature of the consumer transaction is changing. Economic analysis at the Nation level says that daily spending by consumers is the large majority of econ…

We have too much retail space as it is. Closing a lot of stores will be better for all of society in the long run. Of course, government should help impacted workers with a safety net through the transition.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#12

Post by dukeyukey »

nradov wrote: post #4
kristjank wrote: post #3

I always found Italy as a neighboring country to have a pretty good workers' rights and an active government body that crushes foreign agents attempting to break the status quo at the cost of the common man. Maybe that slows down the economy, but the end result seems to benefit the middle class more than in the rest of the world where the economy is basically extincting it. I imagine there's a lot that could be done…

Government policies that prevent economic growth and ensure high unemployment rates do nothing to benefit the middle class. It's better to limit worker rights because that makes employers more likely to hire workers in the first place. This improves growth rates and economic mobility.

Then you gotta explain places like Sweden and Germany, or why the richest, most productive US states are the ones with the strictest workers rights.

Chances are it's something else.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#13

Post by refurb »

dukeyukey wrote: post #12
nradov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government policies that prevent economic growth and ensure high unemployment rates do nothing to benefit the middle class. It's better to limit worker rights because that makes employers more likely to hire workers in the first place. This improves growth rates and economic mobility.

Then you gotta explain places like Sweden and Germany, or why the richest, most productive US states are the ones with the strictest workers rights. Chances are it's something else.

I mean the US has some of the highest wages and least workers rights if you come pare countries.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#14

Post by dukeyukey »

refurb wrote: post #13
dukeyukey wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you gotta explain places like Sweden and Germany, or why the richest, most productive US states are the ones with the strictest workers rights. Chances are it's something else.

I mean the US has some of the highest wages and least workers rights if you come pare countries.

Absolutely.

It also has functionally infinite land, weak neighbours, incredible energy resources, isolation from any other world power, a (relatively) egalitarian culture, and the single biggest patch of good, arable land on the planet.

No shit workers get paid lots in such a productive piece of territory.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#16

Post by shermantanktop »

This is like an American complaining that the burger they got in Bangkok doesn’t taste like a Big Mac.

Every country has their own setup and typically it reflects a set of tradeoffs. Outsiders see the downsides but then seem not to see the upsides, or treat those upsides as intrinsic (via the essentialist fallacy) rather than the consequence of tradeoffs. In this case, Italians tend to value social connectedness and fierce regional affiliation, which as a cultural force has great benefits even while it drives corruption.

I’m not downplaying Italy’s crappy economic performance. It sucks, especially for the young and for the credentialed elite. But Italy is (intentionally or not) perhaps running a different race than aiming for the top of the GDP ranking list.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#17

Post by refurb »

dukeyukey wrote: post #14
refurb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the US has some of the highest wages and least workers rights if you come pare countries.

Absolutely. It also has functionally infinite land, weak neighbours, incredible energy resources, isolation from any other world power, a (relatively) egalitarian culture, and the single biggest patch of good, arable land on the planet. No shit workers get paid lots in such a productive piece of territory.

Those factors are likely irrelevant to industries like tech.

And I mean Canada has all those same things and wages are much lower.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#18

Post by gloryjulio »

guidedlight wrote: post #6

> Italy’s economy is 1.5% smaller than it was in 2007 That is impressively bad for a developed western economy. I suspect the country would be in severe trouble if it wasn’t for their membership in the EU single market.

Check Canada out, especially considering the strong growth of the US economy:

> Firm says Canada per-capita GDP fell a whopping 4.4% in 3Q. On WSJ wires:

https://twitter.com/paulvieira/status/1737948835349991818

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#19

Post by witherk »

shermantanktop wrote: post #16

This is like an American complaining that the burger they got in Bangkok doesn’t taste like a Big Mac. Every country has their own setup and typically it reflects a set of tradeoffs. Outsiders see the downsides but then seem not to see the upsides, or treat those upsides as intrinsic (via the essentialist fallacy) rather than the consequence of tradeoffs. In this case, Italians tend to value social connectedness and…

I don't really think the differnce between an economy that grows by 2% a year and economy that is consitently getting poorer, is analogous to a difference in taste.

Re: Why Can't Italy's Economy Get into Gear? Consider the Taxi Line

#20

Post by Whoppertime »

tough wrote: post #5
nradov wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government policies that prevent economic growth and ensure high unemployment rates do nothing to benefit the middle class. It's better to limit worker rights because that makes employers more likely to hire workers in the first place. This improves growth rates and economic mobility.

I was watching a documentary on the penal system in brazil and how companies use it to exploit them and treats inmates as a cheap right-less, tax-evasion slave workforce

Brazil was also the last country in North or South America to ban Slavery.
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