Economy Real productivity of European countries

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northern italians are far more productive than germans
but italian political system and south values drop the average which still quite good
you are shocked simply because when you think to italians you think to the southern italian stereotype.


You have no idea what you're talking about...the so called "south" values didn't inhibit the southern Italians who immigrated to the U.S. in the slightest degree. They have had great success in the U.S., particularly in small businesses, where their willingness to take a risk, and their spirit of entrepreneurship have been amply rewarded. The difference is that here they had the opportunity; they always had the drive. Italy failed them; they didn't fail Italy.

Things also change. You should take the long view, and not attribute differences in wealth creation simplistically to some half baked notion of genetics or cultural superiority/inferiority. Barely one hundred years ago, most of the people of the Veneto, among other areas, were illiterate peasants dying of diseases like pellagra. They hemorrhaged emigrants to the northwest of Italy first, then parts of Europe, and then to many countries in Latin America. Did you think all of those Italians in Latin America were from the mezzogiorno? Do you think people would make such sacrifices if everything at home was just hunky-dory? You really should bone up on your Italian history.

And who the heck do you think is working in all of those Italian factories in Torino, or Milano, or in the smaller businesses of Emilia Romagna and Liguria and Toscana, just to name the areas with which I'm most familiar? in my own home region, many of the prosperous small businesses are owned by emigrants from the south. Has it somehow escaped your attention that a good number of the creative people running companies that produce a great deal of Italian wealth have their roots in the south?

You should be ashamed to promote such disgusting stereotypes about your own countrymen. I can tell you from personal experience, from having seen it happen, that should you make such idiotic statements in America, for example, you would not be well received, and I'm not talking only about Italian Americans.
 
You have no idea what you're talking about...the so called "south" values didn't inhibit the southern Italians who immigrated to the U.S. in the slightest degree. They have had great success in the U.S., particularly in small businesses, where their willingness to take a risk, and their spirit of entrepreneurship have been amply rewarded. The difference is that here they had the opportunity; they always had the drive. Italy failed them; they didn't fail Italy.
Right on the money Angla. I don't think Europeans or Italians in this case are so different to implicate these differences in economic underdevelopment of some regions, and success of others. The best recent case is Ireland, which from one of poorest in Europe became one of the richest in mere 30 years. It is not the people but wrong or inadequate economic and political systems being responsible for not unleashing full potential of many european populations. Sometimes it is just a function of population density, where more populous areas are a magnet for investments and available work force, and ideas, which in return affects faster growth, plus first risers pull talents and emigration from poorer regions, magnifying the effect. It is very visible in US, poor Montana versus rich Washington state and both being mostly same european mix demographics.
 

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