Interesting article in today's WSJ about Italian anger over the Euro, whose strength is seen as crimping Italian exports and harming its economy. I'm agnostic over whether the Euro is a good thing for Europe. However, I think if Italians want to get serious about solving their economic ills that their energies would be better focused on solving issues such as this:
Federica Mongiello, a 31-year-old mother from Rome, was shocked when, traveling in the Austrian Alps last year, she discovered that baby formula cost the equivalent of about $10 for 2.2 pounds, when she was paying $48 in Italy. The reason for the huge difference? In Italy, baby formula can be sold only in pharmacies, where discounting is rare.
No doubt this law was passed under the guise of consumer protection -- something as important as children's food should only be trusted to pharmacies instead of grocery stores. The impact of such well-intentioned thinking is obvious.
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Such measures are incredibly harmful to a country's productivity -- the lifeblood of it's standard of living. After all, you can't consume more than you produce. For further reading on the subject I would recommend this book.
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