In all advanced economies, the public sector and institutions play a crucial role for economic growth and prosperity. State intervention can take various forms, ranging from establishing regulatory frameworks to directly providing public services and developing critical infrastructure. Additionally, the State can actively drive structural transformation by offering incentives or imposing constraints on specific sectors of the economy. Overall, the design and enforcement of the regulation, as well as the effectiveness of public action, significantly influence drivers of economic growth, including the accumulation of human and physical capital, the functioning of markets, and the level of business dynamism. Importantly, the quality of government intervention is neither static nor exogenous; it is shaped by political and bureaucratic constrains, the technological and organizational capacity of the public sector, and the availability and quality of human and physical capital as key production factors.
On the 29th and 30th September 2025, the Banca d'Italia organizes the 2nd edition of the EPSI (Economics of the Public Sector and Institutions) Conference. This yearly conference aims at bringing together leading world scholars engaged in research that sheds light on the above and related topics. This year we will host keynote lectures by prof. Guo Xu (Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley) and prof. Fiona M. Scott Morton (Yale School of Management).
