"The question “state or markets?” is poorly posed. The dichotomy between “intervention - state - planning - equity” and “laissez faire - private sect… - Alessandro Magnoli Bocchi

"Tackling ‘population aging’ - especially in high-income countries, where the median age is above 40 - requires: 1) acknowledging that most pension systems are financially unsustainable; and 2) reducing the resources allocated to the most sizeable share of the electorate - the elderly".

"In public policy, dependencies and unintended consequences matter. For example, ‘climate change’ and ‘population aging’ are key drivers of migration and cannot be ignored when designing immigration policies. Also, ‘deforestation’ not only leads to ‘global warming’, but also drives wild animals closer to humans - increasing the likelihood of viral infections, via ‘cross-species leaps’. As a result, most decisions cannot be taken in isolation: solving problems in one place is likely to create new ones, elsewhere. Also, well-intentioned policy choices can often provide perverse incentives - and obtain the opposite of their stated objectives. The phenomenon is known as the “cobra effect”: in India, during British rule, the authorities’ bounty on dead cobras resulted in a larger cobra population. In other words, policy making: 1) relies on a complex, interrelated context; and 2) can lead to unpredictable, non-linear outcomes".

"(...) throughout the Peninsula, informal and personal social ties are more important than formal and impersonal ones. When the community (Gemeinschaft, in German) counts more than society (Gesellschaft), family relationships - making up for the absence of the State - prevail over collective responsibilities, weakening civil society". Original quote: "(...) lungo tutta la Penisola, i legami sociali informali e personali sono più importanti di quelli formali e impersonali. Quando la comunità (Gemeinschaft, in tedesco) conta più della società (Gesellschaft), le relazioni familistiche – supplendo all’assenza dello Stato – prevalgono sulle responsabilità collettive, indebolendo la società civile".