Italy

Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GNI adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively uncorrupt recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.

• Score: 1.6
• Rank: 20

• Low net aid volume as a share of the economy (0.18%; rank: 19)
• Small amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank as a share of GNI: 19)
• Large share of tied or partially tied aid (92%; rank: 21)
• Selectivity: large share of aid to less poor and relatively undemocratic governments (rank: 14)
• Allows project proliferation; small average project size (rank: 18)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.

• Score: 6.1
• Rank: 6

• Low barriers against textiles (rank: 2)
• Low barriers against apparel (rank: 3)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries.

Italy Overall

• Score: 5.5
• Rank: 16

• Provides wide official insurance against political risk
• Employs foreign tax credits to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad

• Does not allow domestic investors to take advantage of developing country tax incentives
• Does not participate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) or the Kimberley Initiative on blood diamonds

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return.

• Score: 3.2
• Rank: 14

• Tuition for foreign students the same as for nationals

• Only a small increase during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants living in Italy (rank by share of population: 13)
• Bears small share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 18)

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.

• Score: 4.8
• Rank: 16

• Low greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (10 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 5)
• High gas taxes (rank: 4)

• Small decrease in greenhouse gas emissions rate in 1994–2004 (average annual growth rate/PPP GDP, –0.5%; rank: 19)
• Large number of endangered species imports (rank: 21)

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

• Score: 3.9
• Rank: 13

• Small financial and personnel contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions (overall contribution rank over last 10 years by share of GDP: 15)
• No protection of global sea lanes
• Arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments (rank by share of GDP: 15)

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

• Score: 5.1
• Rank: 10

• Large tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 5)

• Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
• Offers patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain