Sironi : Why Young Talent Will Lead Us out of the Crisis

The role that universities can play in the coming years is not limited to the development of research and teaching , " but directly involves the present and future competitiveness of the largest economy in the world : Europe ," said Università Bocconi Rector Andrea Sironi this morning, in the course of the Opening of the Academic Year 2013-2014.

And if universities in Milan , in particular, succeed in "attracting young people with higher levels of education , especially if they are active in the field of research and innovation ", they can become one of the drivers of growth in the city. Scientific studies show, in fact, that " a high concentration of young people with these characteristics can increase the well-being of the overall population, thanks to gains in productivity . Cities with many university graduates have economies that are more dynamic and creative, and have higher average salaries not only for graduates themselves, but also for all other workers."

In his speech, Sironi stated that among the factors contributing to the crisis were the divergent trends in productivity and labor costs in European countries, with the resulting gap in the evolution of their competitiveness. To increase the competitiveness of weaker countries - including Italy - and the entire Union, argued the Rector, we will have to get real investment started again. Between 2007 and 2012 , investment declined by 475 billion euro on a European scale, an amount equal to ten times the fall in consumption and five times the decline in GDP. Under the conditions currently prevailing in public finances most everywhere, the main path can only be to stimulate a comeback in private investment, which requires two types of intervention.

First, the Rector explained , we have to remove the microeconomic obstacles that are disincentives to investment in many sectors , through a program of structural reforms that include the labor market , the tax system , civil justice and public administration.

But we must especially loosen the credit crunch which, especially in weaker countries , is translating into a drop in loans to businesses and higher interest rates. To achieve this goal, Sironi argued, the European Union must fully achieve banking unity. And realization of that , he said, " requires another important step : a common mechanism and integrated resolution of banking crises that can rely on a European fund ."

In short , concluded Sironi , the famous " irreconcilable quartet " theorized by Tommaso Padoa -Schioppa in 1982 ( according to which, in integrated economic areas, in order to have free movement of goods and services , free movement of capital and fixed exchange rates, countries have to give up independent monetary policies ) must become a quintet, with the awareness of the fact that the creation of an integrated economic area " also requires the introduction of common mechanisms that allow us to alleviate regional economic crises and encourage , through targeted investments, greater convergence of competitiveness of individual countries. "

Universities can contribute to overcoming the crisis by performing to the best of their abilities five roles, acting as: an agent for development and social mobility; an agent for innovation and growth through research; a training ground for the future management class; a magnet for attracting human capital; a bridge to the world of work.