As recalled by Riccardo Faini in his 2003 papers, Italy did not always succeed to overcome the above potential conflict: between 1992 and 1996, productivity growth was satisfactory but employment decreased dramatically; on the contrary, between 1996 and 2001 rapid employment growth resumed while productivity growth collapsed and its level remained stagnant afterwards.
Avoiding a repetition of these dismal dynamics is perhaps the greatest challenge for policy-makers and academics alike. -6-