The difficult path of the Southern economy in 2000s and the conditions for development relaunching

Some months after the presentation of 2009 SVIMEZ's Annual Report on Mezzogiorno's economy, the analysis it proposes shows the dramatic effects of crisis in the South of Italy. Despite expectations, it was unavoidable since Mezzogiorno was in crisis before crisis would arise. Over 2009, then, anti-cyclical policies have been funded by resources allocated for South development, thus worsening the conditions of such regions. The reasons of breaking down a convergence trend, though very slight, precede crisis and are complex, as well as they largely refer to the general extended stagnation of domestic economy compared to the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, Mezzogiorno's deteriorating process occurred since the first part of the decade and strengthened by crisis, both at public overhead and productive capital level, highlights some domestic economic policies' failures, particularly cohesion policies'. These last ones revealed not only qualitative, but also quantitative troubles, as regards public spending. This report deals with the issue of reviewing development policies for Mezzogiorno, by offering the essential coordinates of both governance and policy choices. One of the strategic objectives for South is internationalization, through territories' competitiveness based on context policies aiming at strengthening material and immaterial infrastructures, as well as at increasing human capital and collective goods quality.