to restore a path of sustainable growth, measures necessary to undertake the urgent problems created by the current pandemic crisis need to be flanked by interventions aimed at addressing the obstacles that hamper innovation. why gdp growth matters 34. as most economists do, i have focused on gdp and its determinants. this indicator has been subject, not only in recent years, to various criticisms concerning its ability to grasp all the material aspects that define the conditions of an economy and the fact that it neglects non - economic and intangible factors which, however, contribute significantly to the well - being of a country. several projects have been undertaken in the past to provide a more comprehensive measure of welfare. in the early 1970s, for example, nordhaus and tobin built a new indicator ( the “ measure of economic welfare ” ) which adjusted gdp by including non - market activities, reclassifying government expenditures based on their impact on households ’ access to key public services ( such as transport, health and education ) and calculating amenity losses due to environmental pollution. however, their conclusion was that the broad picture of secular progress, which gdp conveys, remains valid even after the correction of its deficiencies. 35. similarly, in the early 1980s amartya sen argued that a proper assessment of well - being should take into account people ’ s access to education, health, civil rights, freedom of opinion, as well as to economic factors, such as income and consumption. the practical implication was the construction of the so - called “ human development index ”, built by the united nations, which integrates per capita gdp with other indicators to measure the degree of well - being achieved in the various countries. 36. more recently, high emphasis has been placed on the social costs of income inequality, the impact of digitalisation and the environmental sustainability of production. a set of guidelines for a comprehensive measure of well - being and social progress has been recommended in the oecd report beyond gdp ( which described the results achieved by an expert group led by joseph stiglitz, jean - paul fitoussi and martine durand ). experimental indicators are currently being produced in several countries under national initiatives. in italy an “ index of equitable and sustainable well - being ” ( bes ), which is based on both hard and soft indicators covering twelve dimensions ( such as health, education, safety, work and leisure balance, social relationship, politics and institutions, environment ) is now computed and regularly updated. 37.

the oecd average, the south and the islands fall worryingly below ( slide 7 ). 16. these gaps translate into analogous gaps for italian adults. the programme for the international assessment of adult competencies ( piaac ) carried out by the oecd between 2013 and 2016 indicates that, at each age cluster, italian adults perform invariably worse than the average adult in the oecd ( slide 8 ). in particular, it reveals, for our country, a widespread lack of those skills – reading and understanding, applying logic and analysing – that respond to modern life and work needs. for example, in literacy proficiency, about 70 per cent of italians appear to be unable to understand long and articulated texts adequately ( a result that makes italy one of the worst performers among the oecd countries participating in the test, in which this share is, on average, about 50 per cent ). in the numeracy test, a similar share turns out to be unable to successfully carry out relatively complex reasoning about quantities and data ( against about 50 per cent in the oecd average ). 17. financial competencies are also low in the international comparison. according to the survey conducted by the bank of italy at the beginning of 2020 as part of an international programme started by the oecd, italy ranks 23rd out of 26 countries according to a synthetic score that measures three areas of financial literacy : knowledge, behaviour and attitudes. italy ’ s score is lower even than that of non - oecd countries with very modest levels of gdp per capita. these findings suggest that the gap in financial literacy with other countries is attributable only in part to lower levels and quality of education or to other unfavourable social or economic conditions and suggests that there is plenty of room for improvement across all the areas of financial literacy. 18. one of the reasons for the gaps that i have just described is linked to the modest level of spending in education, which is especially low at the tertiary level ( slide 9 ). in 2016 the incidence of expenditure on tertiary education on gdp was 0. 9 per cent in italy, one of the lowest shares in the oecd. more effective and, in some cases, additional spending is required in many aspects. in primary and secondary education, the preparation and motivation of teachers are essential and should be adequately nurtured. buildings and infrastructures are often obsolete and, at times, have problems with their overall security, when they should instead