Good news from Rome: serious people are running Italy. After a decade of government-as-cabaret-act under Silvio Berlusconi, the era of Mario Monti should be more like one of those classic 1970s Italian movies that had subtitles and dealt with matters of life and death. He has made a good start; pension reform is in place and he is starting to tackle entrenched rigidities in the economy. Mr Monti’s efforts are not reflected in bond markets, though. Italy’s 10-year bond yield, at 6.4 per cent, remains higher than Spain’s.
羅馬方面傳來了好消息：眼下管理意大利的人，比較靠譜。過去十年，西爾維奧?貝盧斯科尼(Silvio Berlusconi)領導下的政府就像是一場夜總會里的歌舞表演。而如今的馬里奧?蒙蒂(Mario Monti)時代，應該更像是20世紀70年代的經典意大利影片——有著對白字幕，演繹著生與死的主題。他的開局相當不錯；退休金改革已經到位，他又開始著手解決根深蒂固的經濟僵化問題。不過，蒙蒂的努力還沒有在債券市場上得到反映。目前，意大利10年期國債的收益率為6.4%，仍高于西班牙。