taly’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan in an industrial policy perspective

Abstract

Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan provides over 230 billion euros for rescuing the economy after the covid-19 crisis. This article provides an analysis of the Plan, with a focus on its industrial policy implications. The challenge of rebuilding the Italian economy would require less fragmentation of the measures and a medium-term development strategy, but such a vision is missing from the approach and content of the Plan. National and European resources available for addressing the crisis should focus on key priority fields, including digital technologies, environmentally sustainable economic activities, and welfare and public health services. New targeted policy tools are required, moving beyond ‘horizontal’ incentives to firms, and new public institutions could guide investment efforts towards a new development trajectory.

JEL Classification: L5, O2, P48