The Outlook is structured into two parts: the chapters of Part I respectively explore public investment trends in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Europe as a whole, and illuminate how the legacy of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis is one of insufficient public investment. Part II investigates some areas into which resources could be channelled to reverse the recent trend and provide European economies with an adequate public capital stock.
The essays in this outlook collectively foster a broad approach to and definition of public investment, that is today more relevant than ever. Offering up a timely and clear case for the elimination of bias against investment in European fiscal rules, this outlook is a welcome contribution to the European debate, aimed both at policy makers and general readers.
Floriana Cerniglia is Full Professor of Economics at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan) and Director of CRANEC (Centro di Ricerche in Analisi economica e sviluppo economico internazionale) She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Economia Politica, Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics. She did her PhD at the University of Warwick (UK) and her research interests are in Public Economics, mainly tax and spending assignment across government levels. She has published in leading international journals and she has coordinated and participated in a number of peer-reviewed research projects.
Francesco Saraceno is Deputy Department Director at OFCE, the Research Center in Economics of SciencesPo Paris. He holds PhDs in Economics from Columbia University and the Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on the relationship between inequality and macroeconomic performance and European macroeconomic policies. He has published in several international journals. In 2000–2002 he was member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Italian Prime Minister's Office. He teaches international and European macroeconomics at SciencesPo, where he manages the Economics concentration of the Master of European Affairs and in Rome (Luiss). He is Academic Director of the SciencesPo-Northwestern European Affairs Program. He is member of Confindustria`s Scientific Committee, and of the Scientific Board for the LUISS School of European Political Economy. He is active in the institutional dialogue, and in the public debate, on the EU. He advises the International Labour Organization (ILO) on macroeconomic policies for employment.