“a Complete Failure”. to What Extent Does This Describe Mussolini’s Economic Policy?

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“A Complete failure”. To what extent does this describe Mussolini’s economic policy? 1920s, Fascist Italy. Mussolini has introduced a series of economic reforms to, supposedly, better the life osf the people and to help Italy develop and become the powerful country that Mussolini envisaged. But how successful were these reforms? Many would argue that they were indeed a complete failure as laughably optimistic targets were set and repeatedly not met, and that people benefited little; if at all. On the other hand, others say that the policy was successful, to a degree, as Italy did manage to increase its grain export, for instance. This essay will explore the extent to which Mussolini’s economic policy was a ‘complete failure’- and in doing so, will establish which school of thought is correct. Mussolini’s economic battle for the Lira was a failure, although it did have a few positive outcomes. The battle for the Lira was where Mussolini made the Lira artificially expensive- by fixing the Lira at 90 to £, rather than 150. Mussolini planned for this action to reduce inflation and show the world that Italy was a mighty power. And indeed there were a few positive outcomes: that it made it easy for Italians to buy abroad and perhaps boosted Italy’s prestige. However, in reality it made it hard for Italy to sell abroad (due to the higher prices), so Italy lost its competitiveness on the world market. In addition, serious deflation took place and by 1936 the government was forced to devalue the Lira. To summarise, the reform was a failure as – although in the short run, Italy seemed powerful, in the long run the economy suffered. The battle for the Lira was a propaganda victory in which Mussolini successfully confirmed the image that the fascists were bringing stability and prosper to Italy, without actually doing so. Mussolini also had two other battles; that for
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