EC Library Guide on country knowledge: Italy: Selected publications
A selection of publications from international organisations
- Better regulation practices across the European Union 2022
OECD, 2022.
The second edition of the Better Regulation Practices across the European Union report analyses recent developments and current practices for improving the quality of laws and regulations across all 27 EU Member States and the European Union.
- Closing the Italian digital gap: The role of skills, intangibles and policies
OECD, 2022.
The study identifies the main factors that affect the diffusion of digital technologies and their returns among Italian firms, highlighting the crucial role of public policies. It uses a unique data infrastructure that integrates information on digital technology adoption, firm performance, and workers’ and managers’ skills. The analysis shows that the low digitalisation of Italian firms, especially of SMEs, can be traced back to the low levels of three factors: i) workers’ skills, ii) management capabilities, and iii) accumulation of intangible assets. These factors are also crucial to maximise the effectiveness of public policies supporting firm digitalisation, such as the deployment of broadband infrastructure and fiscal incentives to investments in digital technologies. Finally, the analysis shows that the COVID-19 crisis contributed to further widening the digital gap between Italian firms, favouring ex-ante more digitalised companies, suggesting that public policies play a crucial role for the post-COVID-19 recovery. - Country health profiles: State of health in the EU
OECD, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. OECD Publishing, 2023-
The State of Health in the EU country profiles provide a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and health systems in all EU countries, Iceland and Norway, emphasising the particular characteristics and challenges in each country. They are designed to create a means of mutual learning and voluntary exchanges that support the efforts of countries in their evidence-based policy making. Each country profile provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. The profiles are the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
- The equitable and sustainable well-being framework in Italy: An action plan for its use in policy and budget decision making
OECD, 2022.
In 2017, Italy became the first country in the OECD to link well-being indicators to economic and budget programming in government. The achievement was but one milestone in the country’s development of its Equitable and Sustainable Well-being framework. The Treasury Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in conjunction with the National Institute of Statistics, has continued to develop the framework since then. This Action Plan contributes to that development by proposing ways to progress the integration of equitable and sustainable well-being indicators into policy development and budgeting. The Action Plan contributed to a consultation process with government ministries and stakeholders in 2022 by identifying a range of actions the government could consider in the near and medium term to achieve that integration outcome.
- EU country cancer profile: Italy 2023
OECD, 2023.
This profile identifies strengths, challenges and specific areas of action on cancer prevention and care in Italy as part of the European Cancer Inequalities Registry, a flagship initiative of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. It provides a short synthesis of: the national cancer burden; risk factors for cancer (focusing on behavioural and environmental risk factors); early detection programmes; and cancer care performance (focusing on accessibility, care quality, costs and the impact of COVID-19 on cancer care).
- Healthy, prosperous lives for all in Italy: National report of the Italian Health equity status report
World Health Organization, 2022.
The Italian Ministry of Health and WHO Regional Office for Europe jointly launched the Italian Health equity status report initiative (HESRi) “Healthy Prosperous Lives for All in Italy” in March 2020. The initiative is a collaborative project involving multiple Italian and international partner institutions, with the main goal of supporting national and regional policy-makers to prioritize investments to tackle current health and well-being gaps and to create the conditions to enable all people living in Italy to lead a healthy and prosperous life.
- Italy's national action plan for policy coherence for sustainable development
OECD, 2022.
Italy's National Action Plan for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) brings together the institutional mechanisms, evaluation frameworks and coherence tools needed to integrate sustainable development into government policy making. This Action Plan shows how to streamline existing mechanisms to improve policy coherence across levels of government and to involve civil society more closely in policy formulation. It also suggests how to make the most of complementarities across existing data collection efforts. The Action Plan includes suggestions for better linking mandates across departments and levels of government to avoid overlap and make greater progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Finally, it provides targets and measurable processes for each action to help track progress.
- Italy: Country health profile 2021
OECD, 2021.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Italy as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. This edition has a special focus on the impact of COVID‑19. This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
- Italy: Trade profile 2021
WTO, 2021.
Trade Profiles 2021 provides a series of key indicators on trade in goods and services for 197 economies. For merchandise trade, major exports and imports are listed for both agricultural and non-agricultural products as well as major origins and destinations for total merchandise trade. For trade in services, a detailed breakdown is provided for transport, travel and other commercial services. Statistics on intellectual property are also provided.
- OECD economic surveys: Italy 2021
OECD, 2021.
OECD’s periodic surveys of the Italian economy. Each edition surveys the major challenges faced by the country, evaluates the short-term outlook, and makes specific policy recommendations. Special chapters take a more detailed look at specific challenges. Extensive statistical information is included in charts and graphs. - Potential spatial impacts of the war in Ukraine: A case study from Italy
OECD, 2022.
The impacts of the war in Ukraine will be felt severely within OECD economies, especially in border regions on the front-line of the humanitarian refugee crisis. The economic impacts, in particular those driven by rising energy prices, will also be spatially differentiated, affecting some regions more than others. Italy is no exception, with gas-intensive industries concentrated in northern regions, and wheat-based food and farming prevailing in southern regions and islands. While, overall, Russia accounted for a minor share of Italian exports, some regions and industries are more vulnerable than others to falls in bilateral trade, including destinations popular with high per-capita expenditure Russian tourists.