Lilitus

ponedjeljak, 05.10.2009.

Economy

Benefits: competitive and very creative middle class. Specifies the fashion world in the field of design and manufacture of products, clothing and household appliances. The leading companies include Fiat (automotive industry), Montedison (plastics), Olivetti (communication), Benetton (clothing). Highly productive agriculture and manufacturing products for tourists, well-known fashion houses.
Weaknesses: the government deficit and increasing debt are still high. Small growth of the economy, an inefficient service sector, which is heavily privatized. Unequal distribution of wealth between the rich North and poor South, where unemployment is 3 times higher. Lack of fiscal discipline, improving in recent years. Relatively small, oriented to international competition of the enterprise. Strong dependence on energy imports.
Italy - a highly developed industrial-agrarian country. Mainly an industrial and highly developed North and the poor, agrarian South. Gross national product per capita 30000 dollars a year. Key industries: machine building, metallurgy, chemical and petrochemical, light and food industries. Italy is among the largest manufacturers and suppliers to the world market of cars, bicycles and mopeds, tractors, washing machines and refrigerators, typewriters and adding machines, electronic products, industrial equipment, steel pipes, plastics and fibers, tires and clothing and leather shoes, pasta, cheese, olive oil, wine, fruit and tomato preserves. Large-scale production of cement, natural essences and essential oils from flowers and fruits, art products made of glass and pottery, jewelry. Extraction of pyrites, mercury ore, natural gas, potassium salt, dolomite, asbestos.
In agriculture, the dominant crop. Main crops - wheat, corn, rice (1 st place for the collection in Europe, over 1 million tons per year), sugar beets. Italy - one of the largest in the world and the leading European producer of citrus fruits (more than 3.3 million tons per year), tomatoes (over 5.5 million tons), grapes (about 10 million tons per year, over 90% recycled wine), olives. Development of floriculture and poultry.
Italy - the largest area of international tourism (over 50 million people per year). Tourism in Italy is one of the leading sectors of the economy and accounts for 12% of GDP. The share of Italy had 5.6% of the world tourism market. According to this indicator, the country ranks 3rd place in the EU after France and Spain.
The currency - euro.
Employment Structure
The total number of economically active population: 24.86 million (in 2007)
Agriculture - 4%, industry - 31%, tertiary sector - 65%.
At present, regional disparities in Italy in the structure of employment are as follows:
1. Differences between the North-West and North-East region are insignificant. Percentage of employed in the industrial sector in these regions are exactly the same. Differences are observed only in the number of employed in the tertiary sector and agriculture. Northwest region has traditionally been more developed region, in which earlier formed a powerful industry (here is the main industrial triangle of Italy, Milan-Turin-Genoa). Northeast same region acquired its industrial structure since 1970, when it was built strong aluminum industry, energy, oil refining and petrochemical industries.
2. The Center has traditionally been characterized by national averages, and this region was considered a transition between the industrial North and the agrarian south. The Center is currently well preserved, these mid-position, but before the gap between the North and the Center was more significant than at present. We can say that now the distribution of employment by sector in the northern and central region is almost identical. Only in the rate of employment in the tertiary sector, the Central District is well ahead of their northern neighbors (at 8-11%). This increase in the number of employed in the tertiary sector is due to the region of Lazio, which is the capital and in which, naturally, there is the highest in the country share of employment in the services sector. In two districts of the Central region (Tuscany and Umbria), rates remain at roughly the same as the national average, but it's not smoothing too high of a tertiary sector of the region of Lazio.
3. The southern part of Italy, which may be divided on the physical-geographical basis in two regions (island and peninsular) proposes to share a little differently. Through analysis of employment in the sectors of the economy of Southern Italy, we can conclude that here, by analogy with the northern part, the same can be isolated south-western and south-eastern regions. Between the western and eastern regions of the South (as opposed to northern) there is no such uniformity in the distribution of the number of employed by sectors of the economy. Thus, South-West region is different from the South-East more marked predominance in the employment structure of tertiary sector of the economy, and in South-East region more developed industrial sector. And uniting the South-West and South-East region is a very high rate of employment in agriculture, 7% and 9% respectively, which is approximately 2 times higher than the national average. It should be noted that the rate of employment in the agricultural sector in 1995 was in the South-West region of 11%, and in South-East - 12%.
Thus, the Center on employment in the sectors of the economy "moved up" to the northern regions, and the south has improved its employment structure by increasing the number of employed in the tertiary and industrial sectors and a corresponding decline in employment in the agricultural sector. This gives reason to allocate in modern Italy "dual" structure of employment. The first part of this structure include the regions of North-West, North-East and Center, and the second in the South.
Because of the small size and high population density, in modern Italian acute issue processing (see garbage crisis in Italy).
Italy in its economic level is intermediate between the most economically developed countries and countries with medium level of development of productive forces. Just as in other highly developed countries, in Italy industry is a leading economy, although it occupied a smaller proportion of the economically active population, than in the heavily and disproportionately growing service sector. The cost of industrial output exceeds the value of agricultural products, in which each year is invested less capital than in industry. Industrial Products marked predominance in Italian exports. Much of the wealth in Italy is in the hands of monopolies, most of which are among the largest corporations in the capitalist world. They predominate in the chemical and electrical industry (Montedison), automotive (Fiat), as well as rubber ( "Pirelli"). At the same time, there exists a great variety of medium, small and very small firms, mainly in the light and food industries, as well as in the manufacture of household electrical appliances, equipment for processing plastics, machine tools, in some sub-sectors. Since 70-ies a marked tendency to reduce the large and increasing role of small and medium-sized firms and enterprises. The Italian government actively and in various forms of interference in the economy: its specialized bodies involved in joint stock companies as the controlling shareholder, are industrial enterprises under various government programs. The state became the country's largest employer. Especially strong in its position in energy, metallurgy, shipbuilding. He owns many businesses and light industry. Nationalized, and major banks. As the pace of development of the public sector than the development of Italian economy in general. In modern conditions government intervention in the economy is not limited to, to help individual monopolies to develop the least profitable, or requiring large capital investments in particular industries. The main objective of government intervention - to ensure the continuity of the reproduction process. An important new feature of the development of state-monopoly capitalism in Italy has a national long-term programming of the economy, reflecting the increased degree of concentration and centralization of production and capital, increasing monopolization and nationalization of the economy.

Military

The armed forces of Italy are: Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri; military age: 18 years;
Service life: 10 months;
Party's fighting people (men): 15-49 - 14248674 to 2001;
Party's fighting people (men): in accordance with military service of 15-49 years - 12,244,166 for 2001;
Military labor reserves (reach military age each year): 304,369 people in 2001;
Military expenditures: 20.7 billion dollars, representing 1.7% of GDP.
Italy adopted a law on the abolition of conscription and the establishment of a professional army. Young people born after December 31, 1985, no longer subject to military conscription. "Watershed event" - so emotionally Italian Defense Minister Sergio Mattarella described the decision of the national parliament to abolish conscription by 2007. However, emotions here were quite appropriate. First of all, because it is finally born on the Apennines, the complete professional army, and the millions of young Italians will no longer need to feel contradictory feelings when receiving the infamous agenda of military conscription. Indeed, ends an era, initiated by Napoleon still in 1802. However, if you want an idea of forming the army of conscripts to the principle can be considered an Italian invention, since even for three centuries before Napoleon mnogomudry Niccolo Machiavelli raised her, not believing in the virtue of the Florentine mercenaries.
Formally, the new law refers only to the suspension of conscription, since Article 52 of the Italian Constitution provides that "the protection of the Motherland is the sacred duty of a citizen. Thus, in the event of war or other emergency situation practice recruitment for military service may be resumed. Nevertheless, it is obvious that Rome took a course on creating a professional army, which numbered at the end of 2006 is to make 190 thousand, then there will be reduced to 80 thousand troops. The law provides for a five-year service for the soldiers with the ability to extend the contract twice for two years. May also contract for only one year. It is assumed that, after leaving the ranks of the armed forces, the majority of yesterday's soldiers will be taken to the police, fire brigade, civil protection service. Contract soldiers a month will pay 2 million lire (about 1 thousand dollars), whereas now the rank and file gets only 180 thousand liras. In addition, the reform provides an opportunity for women to occupy almost all positions in all the military branches.