Italy presents details of its welfare system in China

16 settembre 2015

2 min di lettura

(AGI) Beijing, Sept. 16 - The president of the Italian SocialSecurity Institute (INPS) has presented details of the Italianwelfare system in China. Tito Boeri explained Italy's system ofpensions and social security and the reforms that were carriedout recently in a conference at the Italian Embassy in Beijingwith the title "Reform and Economic Recovery in Italy". Chinais greatly interested in the Italian system, as the country isfacing serious welfare problems. It has more than 1.3 billioninhabitants and has been encountering difficulties replacingits aging workforce after more than 30 years of thegovernment's one-child policy. Boeri explained: "With regard topensions, China is looking at the contributory system which wasintroduced in Italy in the second half of the nineties. Thissystem closely ties contributions to future pensions, an aspectthat is of much interest to the Chinese, who have difficultiescollecting social security contributions." Italy can serve as amodel for China on the level of welfare as well, especially inthe identification of beneficiaries. Boeri mentions the Italiansystem that allows for the collection of basic informationabout the assets of households and "allows us to understand whoare the people that really need help." But it will be difficultto replicate the European welfare models in China, Boericontinued. "No one can export a model to a country like China.China is so large that it requires a special approach, althoughsome aspects may turn out to be very important for the Asiangiant." During the conference, Boeri illustrated the ongoingreforms in Italy, starting with the labour market and thepublic administration. Italy and China may differ greatly whenlooking at the figures, but the start of Italy's economicrecovery could serve as a starting point for China's slumpingeconomy. Italy's growth rate is "ridiculously low" compared toChina's 7 percent, Boeri pointed out, but Italy is coming outof a "bad recession" and is slowly recovering. (AGI). .