Italy: A Fundamental Instrument

The rose is off the boom in Italy, where a dizzy round of high living, heavy imports and inflation has stalled the nation's fast postwar growth. The Milan stock market has dived, the lira has been trembling on world markets, and two weeks ago the U.S., the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank backed a $1.2 billion emergency loan to shore up the Italian economy. Last week, after the Italian Senate approved a stabilizing program that restricts installment-buying and raises taxes on cars and gasoline, automaking Fiat and Innocenti threatened to...

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