lose strength until it stopped growing, without taking steps to counter a trend whose deep and long - term nature we ignored despite warnings from some quarters. the outcome is before our eyes : we are one of the economies worst hit by the recessive effects of the financial crisis. we worry about the timing and strength of the recovery, about how our country will fare in ten years ’ time, about the employment prospects and future well - being of the generation on the threshold of adulthood. a prosperous society knows how to ensure a constant improvement in the quality of life of its members. first and foremost by promoting employment, that is by creating the conditions so that anyone who wants to work, especially at the start of adult life, can find or create a job that is not too unpleasant or ill - paid and that as far as possible fulfils their vocation. working allows people to plan their future, to access a variety of high quality goods and services, and to grow as a person. this is what we should understand by “ development ” : a constant, innovative increase in the variety and quality of everything that makes life better, starting from a secure environment, cultural heritage and natural landscape. a well - designed statistical system can calculate national income in such a way as to include the quality of goods and services and not only their quantity. in any case, a static vision of a society that can be crystallized in an eternal present, maintaining resources and production capacity unchanged, is naive and has repeatedly been disproved by history. stasis is not possible : either we go forward or we will decline, and only in the former case can we mitigate social inequalities. 16 economic policy today in the advanced countries must first distinguish the vicissitudes of the economic cycle from structural trends and act on both with the appropriate instruments. employment is the first challenge. an important role in promoting employment and participation in the labour market and aiming for levels and trends in pay that reconcile competitiveness with workers ’ aspirations falls to both macroeconomic policies, aimed at restoring steady expansion of aggregate demand and the economy, and structural policies designed to remedy the age - old defects of the labour market and more generally of the picketty ( 2014 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches economic system, which pre - dated the crisis and were merely aggravated by its assault. 17 structural problems and policies are particularly significant in a number of countries, including our own. for our economy, the return to sustained development cannot be taken

5 0. 5 0. 0 0. 0 italy france spain germany united states source : lseg. ( 1 ) the data refer to the banks included in the datastream banks indices of the countries in the key. figure 5 financial assets of banks and non - bank financial intermediaries ( per cent of gdp ) ( a ) world ( b ) euro area ( c ) italy banks non−bank financial intermediaries source : based on fsb data. ( 1 ) fsb sample, which includes the 21 largest world economies and the euro area as a whole. designed and printed by the printing and publishing division of banca d ’ italia