ITALY'S REGIME THE MOST CORRUPT AND LESS EFFICIENT OF THE WESTERN WORLD, according to data published by the WORLD BANK (August 2005).

The World Bank government efficiency index examines the quality of public services. It ranks the professionalism of government officials providing the services, bureaucracy, political pressure on officials and government's credibility regarding policy commitments. The Italian index reached 70.2 percent, trailing not only developed countries like the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, France and Spain, but also Botswana, Martinique, and Aruba. The average ranking in the developed world was 89.7 percent.

Voice and Accountability includes in it a number of indicators measuring various aspects of the political process, civil liberties, political and human rights, measuring the extent to which citizens of a country are able to participate in the selection of governments. Italy's index value is 82 percent, the lowest value among the western developed countries, lower also in comparison to some of the newly entered European Union members such as Poland and Estonia (both at 85 percent). In any case, well behind Portugal (93.2 percent), Spain (87.9 percent), and even Dominica (85 percent).

The government corruption index compares the public's perception on whether government power is used to promote private interests. Italy scored 74.9 percent, compared to an average 91.4 percent average among developed nations. The lowest value for a western developed country. Italy is just behind Buthan and Martinique (75.4 percent), Botswana has a higher score (80.8 percent), just like Malta (87.7 percent), Chile (88.7 percent), and Macao (91.6 percent), among many others.

Rule of Law includes several indicators which measure the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society. These include perceptions of the incidence of crime, the effectiveness and predictability of the judiciary, and the enforceability of contracts. Italy earned 71 percent, far behind Spain (85 percent), France (88.9 percent) and the average for developed countries (90.3 percent). The Netherlands are at 95.2 percent, followed by the U.S. and Germany, both at 92.3 percent. Again Martinique and Antilla earned higher values than Italy, as well as Greece and Hungary.

The regulatory index looks into whether government policy impedes free market mechanisms and if banking regulationand supervision is effective. Italy scored low out of the developed nations on this parameter, at 81.8 percent compared to an average 90.6 percent.

Italy posted one of the the lowest index in political stability and absence of violence, this index combines several indicators which measure perceptions of the likelihood that the government in power will be destabilized or overthrown by possibly unconstitutional and/or violent means, including domestic violence and terrorism. Italy's value was 56.3 percent, compared to the U.S.'s 60.7 percent, the Netherlands 88.3 percent, and even lower than those of some less developed countries like Mongolia (61.2 percent), Botswana (69.4 percent). Italy's value, moreover, is the lowest for this country in the last ten years.

The values indicated are for 2004. Low indices hamper foreign investment, raise risk premiums on financial markets and hurt resource allocation.

The World Bank figures are in the public domain, (Kaufmann D., A. Kraay, and M. Mastruzzi 2005: Governance Matters IV: Governance Indicators for 1996-2004. ).