Is Italy a Highly Efficient Country in Science?

In an earlier study on measuring national efficiencies in the production of scientific papers and patents of several developed and developing countries (Basu, 2013; 2014a), we found that Italy has the highest efficiency in the production of papers. While this has not gone unnoticed in the literature (Daraio and Moed, 2011) they have taken it as an ‘overcompensation effect’ and an indication of decline. By examining the work of several authors, we find instances where the information put forward, when taken together, support our findings – that Italy has a high efficiency in scientific publication but only an average efficiency in patenting. We note that Italy’s profile along a host of parameters is quite distinct with respect to the OECD average (DeJaeger, 2012). Using a typology of countries based on their publication and patenting efficiencies (Basu, 2014b) we infer that Italy is not one of the countries that have shifted national priorities from publications to patents, like USA, Japan, Germany, or Korea.