Why the economist 'Crowned' Italy as country of the year for 2021?

One of the dissenting perspectives was the opinion written by Mattia Ferraresi, the managing editor of an Italian newspaper, Domani published in the Washington Post. The opinion was controversially titled: 'Don’t fall for the hype. Italy is no ‘country of the year.’

The Economist, while justifying the choice of Italy, has earlier stated that: "Each year The Economist picks a “country of the year”. The award goes not to the biggest, the richest or the happiest, but to the one that in our view improved the most in 2021. Past winners have included Uzbekistan (for abolishing slavery), Colombia (for making peace) and Tunisia (for embracing democracy)."

Mattia Ferraresi, raised valid counter-points, some of them are captured in his words below: "Italy’s unemployment is at 9.4 percent, three points higher than the E.U. average, and youth unemployment rose to nearly 30 percent in 2021. Productivity levels have not increased since the mid-1990s. The justice system stands as one of the most inefficient in the E.U., and its byzantine tax code makes it one of the most unattractive places for starting a business in the region. Italy is also one of the fastest-aging countries in the world, and in December the country’s fertility rate reached its lowest point on record." Ferraresi added that one of the unintended consequences of having an unelected Prime Minister is political apathy, citing local elections held in September, 2021 where almost 50% of eligible voters didn't participate. Though, it has been speculated that Prime Minister Mario Draghi, would run for Presidency in the coming national elections. However, it is feared that he might be less effective as a President, since its a ceremonial position.

Ferraresi, also relied on statistical data to support his counter-narrative perspectives, he said among other things that: "Italy is the only OECD country where wages didn’t rise in the last 30 years (1990-2020); in fact, it’s the only country where they dropped (-2.9%). In Lithuania, wages rose 276.3%, in Germany, 33.7%, in Greece, 30.5% and in Spain, 6.2%. A cause of lower wages in Italy is involuntary part-time work that increased from 10 to 30%. As a result, the share of the working poor in Italy increased by 7% to 33% (30 years ago, they were 26%)...In view of those developments, Italy is decidedly not our country of the year." These statistical facts are consequences of the huge trust deficit in successive Italian governments, hence the problems are systemic in nature. The starting point is the political will to execute institutional reforms. Apparently, the Economist's choice of Italy was influenced more by improvement in governance rather than by economic indicators.

Be that as it may, though Italy might not have recorded impressive, visible and non-controversial significant improvements; but it is on the path to sustainable economic growth with stability in governance. Behind the new waves of change in Italy is the Prime Minister Mario Draghi, though unelected by Italians, he was chosen to lead a government of national unity in February, 2021 by President Sergio Matarella after the then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned owing to internal acrimony in government.

Mario Draghi, was the former president of the European Central Bank. As a technocrat, his coming into government has enhanced trust in governance and improved the international rating of the Italian government. This is against the fact that, over the years Italy has been bedeviled with visionless and corrupt leadership. "Because of weak governance, Italians were poorer in 2019 than they had been in 2000", the Economist notes, but in 2021, this trend changed, thanks to reform policies of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

On a final note, despite the dissenting views, the Economist has made us understand that Italy is the country of the year in 2021, not because its football team won the European Championship; but because of stability in its governance.

That Italy is the country of the year in 2021, not because an Italian rock band won the Eurovision Song Contest, but because it has initiated reform policies that would enhance economic prosperity.

That Italy is the country of the year in 2021 not because an Italian physicist Giorgio Parisi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021, but because under the leadership of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, within the framework of European Union’s (EU) post-pandemic recovery plan, Italy is the largest beneficiary of EU's billion-euros recovery fund!