Poor, Poorer, Poorest

The prognosis is not good. The latest studies are full of well-intentioned recommendations for change, from improving local health services with mobile clinics and tougher regulation to greater emphasis on prenatal and childhood medical assistance. There's also brave talk about ways of narrowing the north-south income divide: measures to force black-market jobs into the mainstream, bolstering tax revenues and adopting initiatives to ensure that parents keep their kids in school. None of this is likely to amount to much, however, without a commitment from Italy's federal government to invest economically in the south--and offer incentives for northern businesses to do the same. Without that, the region's chief potential resource--its low-cost, underemployed labor pool--will remain untapped. And its people might as well be living in caves.

© 2005