Regulatory Reform in Italy

Starting later than many countries, Italy devoted the 1990s to ""catching up"" with the leading OECD countries in economic and governance reforms. The scope, speed and consistency of structural reforms by multiple governments were remarkable. Accumulated rigidities and practices of decades were re-assessed, and many rejected. Awareness of the excessive role of the state in the economy led to broad policy and institutional changes in favour of transparency, public sector efficiency, and market competition. By 1999, Italy's privatisation programme was among the largest in the OECD. Reform of It.