Three Italies: a revolution in family incomes

A new survey on the household budgets by the Bank of Italy gives food for thought on the evolution of the Italian economy. We were used to think that the Italian regions follow two different patterns: the North, with European standards of living, and the South, the Mezzogiorno, trying to catch up but always far behind.
The Italian central bank (Banca d’Italia), who has a very efficient research center, released the results of its biennial survey, with some surprising results.

Don’t throw your compass into the sea

Is the Gdp (Gross domestic product) a correct way to measure the progress of a nation? The problem is well known to statisticians and economists, with controversies that you can read in wikipedia and in many papers. Even the United Nations through its agency Undp, has launched a few years ago a new indicator, the Human Development Index, which takes into consideration not only the economic wealth, but also education and life expectancy.
In recent times, the Gdp problem is becoming more and more political and not only statistical. For many reasons: