Title: Promises, performance, and prospects : essays on political economy 1980-1998 /
Authors: Martino, Antonio, 1942-; Lee, Dwight R.
Publisher: Liberty Fund,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Economic policy.; Italy Economic policy.
Abstract: "Promises, Performance, and Prospects gathers the key writings of Antonio Martino, Italian statesman and professor of political economics. Informed by a strong tradition of classical liberal thought, these essays explore such current issues of political economy as fiscal responsibility, the threat of statism to individual liberty, and the flight of overtaxed citizens to the underground economy. While Martino's writings are motivated by circumstances in Italy, "his analysis is germane to problems that, to one degree or another, face all advanced democratic societies," according to Dwight Lee, author of the foreword and editor of this volume."--Jacket.
Contents: Pt. 1. Tax revenues increase and government increases more. Italy's lesson : higher taxes, bigger deficit -- Italy's tax follies -- Tax issue comes into focus in Italy -- Invisible taxation : the growth of Italy's Leviathan -- Budget deficits and constitutional constraints -- pt. 2. Hopes betrayed. Statism at work : a lesson from Italy -- The leaning tower of statism -- Free education or educational freedom? -- Italian socialists warm to vouchers -- The welfare state : lessons from Italy -- Taxation and liberty in the European welfare state -- Solving the global public pensions crisis : the Italian case -- Is social justice a myth? -- Tales from the public sector : inside the labyrinth -- Tales from the public sector : red tape all'Italiana -- pt. 3. Going underground. The underground economy -- Another Italian economic miracle? -- pt. 4. Fantasies collide with reality. Was Keynes a Keynesian? -- The modern mask of socialism -- pt. 5. Money and Europe. Toward monetary stability? -- Nationalism, money, and Europe -- European monetary union : a fatal mistake? -- A monetary constitution for ex-communist countries -- pt. 6. The future of freedom. A comment on "Nineteen eighty-four : a false alarm?" -- Are we winning? -- Liberalism in the coming decade : the role of the Mont Pèlerin Society.