ABSTRACT
The third chapter deals with the reforms of the Italian university system, focusing on the gap between the expected outcome and the actual outcome. A specific section is dedicated to the emotional health of the PhD students in Italy, showing how the competitive pressure can negatively affect their lives and performances. The chapter concludes with a section discussing an option of economic policy, based on the view that a massive State intervention for promoting innovations (both in the public and the private sector) could be useful in reducing the unemployment rate and stimulating economic growth, via the increase of domestic demand in a short-run perspective, and could have positive outcomes on the long-run path of labour productivity.
