Assessing policy reforms for Italy using ITEM and QUEST III

This paper assesses the implications of policy reforms for the Italian economy by jointly using the Italian Treasury Econometric Model (ITEM) and QUEST III, the endogenous growth dynamic general equilibrium model of the European Commission in the version calibrated for Italy. The structural characteristics of the two models and the results of simulations are analyzed by using an array of shocks commonly examined in the evaluation of reforms. We conclude that the joint consideration of the two models can improve our understanding of how the assessment of policy interventions is likely to be affected by the uncertainty surrounding model-based evaluation.