Italian budget A central banker’s dream

If only governments could follow sound budget rules. That is the pious wish of Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, ex-central banker and current Italian finance minister. He points out that central banks have learned how to follow sound monetary rules. If they forget, the markets swiftly mete out harsh punishment. But government budgets are a different matter. The pain of high deficits is often delayed, and saying no to importuning interest groups is much harder than pushing around an impersonal mass of inv...