E&MFLASH

2019-11-06 Carlo Secchi

Development and Wellbeing: A Question of Works

The economic development and fortunes of States over the centuries have been sustained and often conditioned by the construction of infrastructure. This has allowed many backwards and economically depressed regions to reach excellent levels of prosperity. In addition, the system of infrastructure has had, and still has, an evident geopolitical impact. In that regard, the Treaty of Rome of 1957 expressly provided for a common transport policy in order to develop a single European market, identified as one of the pillars to launch the path towards continental unity. Stressing the importance of having ...

Read

2019-11-05 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

If Beijing Goes to War (against Pollution)

The smog of large Chinese cities no longer makes the front pages of the newspapers. And this time it's not due to censure. According to a recent report from the UN, emissions in China have fallen by 70 percent since 2013, and atmospheric pollution by 36 percent (1). How did this happen? The political will was enormous, and goes under the slogan of "Environmental Civilization" launched by the Communist Party of China in 2007 and revived by Xi Jinping as a war against pollution. Coal-fired heating has been prohibited, factories have been moved outside of cities, and the most heavily polluting companies ...

Read

2019-10-25

Digital Transformation for Human Resources

Digital Transformation is increasingly discussed these days in regard to Human Resources. While the words themselves indicate the simplification of almost all HR processes and the need to redesign and improve current practices, making use of digital tools, it goes without saying that the Human Resources sector cannot be left behind; in particular because it deals with the most important capital of all, people (human capital), who can be resistant, or particularly inclined, to change. The HR manager must therefore evolve and guide that process, not only to "ride the wave" or follow it, but to give ...

Read

2019-10-22 Paola Dubini

What GDP for culture

On October 7, the results of two studies were published that deal with the issue of the relationship between cultural heritage and wealth generation: the second edition of the Cultural and Creative cities monitor, published by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Union, that compares 190 cities in 30 European countries,[1] and the Boston Consulting Group study on autonomous national museums, their results and their impact in the first years of their institution after the Franceschini of 2014.[2] The essential message that reached public opinion from the two studies is that state museums ...

Read

2019-10-15 Vittoria Veronesi and Guia Beatrice Pirotti

Italian Excellence in food & beverage: How to Build Wonder

Andrea Illy writes: "I immediately recognized that providing the best coffee nature can offer us is not a profession like others, but an idea that includes many professions. An entire conception of the world that contains the marvelous places where the plants grow and the beans are harvested, the elegant cafes and sophisticated conversations between intellectuals; movies, art, designer coffee-cups and production without defects. This idea would change my life." In this description, we perceive the essence of Italian excellence, know-how without abandoning beauty, the good that is married to the ...

Read

2019-10-09 Severino Meregalli, Leonardo Maria De Rossi, Lorenzo Diaferia

How to Exploit Data in the Post-Digital Era?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently estimated that by the end of 2020, the amount of stored data will reach the volume of 44 zettabytes, which means a quantity of bytes forty times greater than the number of stars in the universe. In the world of big data and digitalization, imaginative references such as that of the WEF on the trend in data growth have now become the norm. Research centers, vendors, and the publishing world compete in using analogies and exponential metrics to present the issue of data explosion. Since we now recognize the fact that we are facing an unstoppable trend of ...

Read

2019-10-09 Donato Masciandaro

The Report Cards for Draghi and the Euro

With the change at the helm of the European Central Bank (ECB) from Mario Draghi to Christine Lagarde, can we try to issue grades on the relationship between monetary policy, the euro, and the Italian economy? Such an exercise is a subject to be handled very prudently. In fact, no direct relationship exists between monetary instruments and the relevant macroeconomic effects. Rather, there is a chain of relationships, of which monetary policy can be one of the first links, while macroeconomic results are the last link. The challenge for a central banker is to understand under what conditions the ...

Read

2019-09-25 Cecilia Attanasio Ghezzi

China: A 70-year-long March

A military parade will mark the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. On October 1, in Tiananmen Square, the communist leadership will delight in showing the world the progress made since Mao Zedong declared the birth of the New China: from a poor agricultural society to a global economic power in less than a century. Those who were around when the People's Republic was founded cannot fail to remember the food-rationing cards, the hunger, and the crude political purges that reached their apex during the decade of the Cultural Revolution. And then the 1980s, when the economic reforms ...

Read

2019-09-25 Leonella Gori

The CFO: A Technical Figure, or not?

In the preparation of this article, thanks are due to Dott. Francesco Masironi for his patient work collecting information during the initial phases of the research. In response to the question “What counts more, perception or facts?” the marketing world has a rather precise and clear answer, that aims in a single direction, with almost no ambiguity: while facts are important, the ability to make them perceptible in a "correct" and convenient manner is probably even more important. An example? Some years ago, one of the most famous violinists in the world repeated a superb musical execution ...

Read

2019-09-25 Roberto Ruozi

Watch Out for Libra

Since Facebook announced that in 2020 it will launch a new currency to transmit monetary values globally, there have been many comments with decisive positive or negative conclusions. The Libra phenomenon – the name of the new currency – has in fact sparked great interest, but the judgments expressed to this point cannot be considered definitive, since many of its aspects are not certain yet, including because many of the technical, financial, and technological problems are still being addressed, and because we don’t know what position the oversight authorities will take. In truth, the authorities ...

Read