Italy 2030: how to stop the decline of the country (proposal for fellowship research program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government) Premises Despite the great potential of the country and its people, current Italian landscape is characterized by the following: - politicians with very short-term horizon, focused on next election only - political debate has gotten apersonal"; not addressing issues of national interest - politics and politicians lost credibility; unprecedented lack of leadership - past mistakes and current crisis, together with globalization process, raise several economic challenges and severely undermine future of young generations key economic trends are not promising: rising public debt, slow growth, increasing unemployment (specifically youth), aging population, poor infrastructure, increasing gap North/South, low social mobility, negative balance in global competition for talent widening gap between politicians' actions and economists' recommendations young generations are increasingly frustrated and disaffected with politics; politically less organized than older generations, their aspirations are not protected by politicians young generations have no dreams on their future, which reveals a society in decline There are premises for a political vacuum and unprecedented and fertile ground for change The project Focus on key economic topics and main reforms needed to stop the country's decline by: - gathering and analyzing the necessary economic and statistical data - interacting with economists, government and business leaders, to collect their views - summarizing existing issues, making them simple to understand and communicate ▪ understanding and explaining what prevented politicians from taking effective actions ▪ explaining long-term importance of addressing issues, although it may be unpopular providing possible solutions/policy advice and outlining strong and logical arguments in order to create broad consensu