Europa e Italia nel Covid 19. Dati socio-sanitari e urgenze economiche. Prime riflessioni

This Cranec working paperis part of the institutional collaboration between the Center of Economic Analysis-CRANEC and the Edison Foundation and comes out in this series with the qualification of «First Reflections», as the authors have followed the development of the Covid-19 pandemic day by day, albeit with different perspectives. The first part, entitled “From stagnation to the pandemic”, is by Marco Fortis and has two main features. On the one side, the author deals with Italian economic issues with particular reference to the effects of the Covid-19 crisis. The thesis is that Italy, after the lockdown, must not stop thus desertificating an already weak economy before the pandemic. On the other side, he expresses,by analyzing the pandemic data,the full awareness of the seriousness of the situation and of the need for quantitative information to be as wide as possible among the public. Certainly, the restrictive measures have at least limited the spread of the contagion, but some critical factors deriving from a certain administrative-organizational bad coordination are analyzed. The second part, entitled “Facts and plans for a new development”, is by Alberto Quadrio Curzio and it also has two main features,basedon the only belief that Italy must remain firmly within the Europe, contributing to its development both in proposals and initiatives both in participation in institutions and in compliance with agreements. On the one side the author argues that Europe, declined as the EU and/or the EMU, had various tools available, but none of them could be activated in terms of quantity and quality in the face of such a sudden and cruelpandemic. One the other side, heexamines the great potentials that Europe would haveby refining and strengthening various accredited and run-in bodies to advance on four sectors that make it stronger both internally and in international competition compared to the US and China.The sectors are investments and infrastructures, industry and innovation.