Word: interests
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wind, another distraction from more severe pressures, more threatening problems to which the Justice Department should apply itself. But in the days when endowments like Harvard's rank alongside the holdings of America's largest corporations, and when education like politics and journalism faces questions of conflicts of interest, it is vital to find if there a clear line dividing "institutions of higher education" from "ordinary" corporations...
...regularly runs annual budget deficits five times as bad as those of the U.S.; whose fiscal policy is so paralyzed by political rivalries that its national debt is equal to its gross domestic product (vs. only 50% for the U.S.); whose debt problem is so out of hand that interest payments alone amount to 8% of GDP. Compared with this, the U.S. seems almost a model of fiscal probity...
...debt. Only once in the past dozen years has the annual budget deficit been less than 10% of GDP. By contrast, the worst U.S. ratio was 3.8% in 1983; last year it was only 1.8%. Moreover, most of Italy's debt is short to medium term, subject to volatile interest rates. A 1% rise in short-term rates costs the government 7 trillion lire ($5.1 billion) annually in extra interest...
...ignores the problem. For the past six years, its annual growth rate of 3.5% to 4% has been one of Europe's highest. Inflation has come down smartly from more than 20% in 1980 to 5% last year. The lira has appreciated against most other currencies. To be sure, interest rates are still in double figures, and unemployment is stuck above 10%, but that figure is skewed by a higher jobless rate in the backward south; in the thriving north, it is lower. Overall, Italy's economic performance is sparkling. How do the Italians do it? Is this a real...
...domestically, and nearly two-thirds of the negotiable state debt is in the hands of individuals. This mode of saving doubtless owes something to exchange controls and preferential tax treatment, but Italians have been willing buyers of state paper, thus absorbing the burgeoning debt. In this situation, rises in interest rates have the perverse effect of stimulating consumption by putting more money into people's pockets. Moreover, another part of the government's deficit spending directly helps private business by shouldering part of employers' social-security contributions, thus boosting profits and encouraging investment...