This is, as far as I know, the last publication by APS Bank of its Occasional Papers series, the 12th in the series, all written by Professor EP Delia when he was chairman of the bank.
The series was interrupted when Prof. Delia stopped being the bank's chairman. As I said in another review recently, it is a pity the bank stopped this series.
Unfortunately in Malta we do not get many publications on economic and financial matters, unless they are government publications and so rigidly tame, or else occasional papers in some abstruse publication out of reach of most.
The book discusses Malta's future economic development and social cohesion in the light of the envisaged evolution of the European Union and in particular the Economic and Monetary Union.
The study examines the EMU as a political, economic and monetary project in the light of the well-being of every individual who lives and works under the EMU set of rules and obligations.
We must understand the context in which this study was written - the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the Greek problem, the British Brexit, and locally the exponential growth of the economy.
One big merit of the author is that he takes and analyses the data continually being issued by the National Statistics Office and draws various conclusions from such data. Normally, and unfortunately, the newspapers and media in general do not touch the NSO statistics and this is a huge pity.
This book follows in the footsteps of a 2010 publication, Catholic Social Teaching, Economic Thought and Four Hundred Thousand Maltese and updates it in the light of intervening events, most notably the change of government in March 2013, the Panama Papers revelation, and the many issues aired by the Maltese, such as regarding corruption. The author also hints at an evolution if not an involution in the EU but he never really discusses this in detail, I felt.
He speaks about the growth of the Maltese economy and correlates it to the changes in Maltese society, the breakdown of families and the introduction of alternative styles of life.
There are of course a myriad other issues that are daily aired on the media and the social media but the author pinpoints the ageing population and the foreign workers making up for the shortfall.
At some points, especially towards the conclusion, he seems to doubt that Malta will be able to stay in the EU especially if the EU moves towards greater unity.
It is always a surprise, and journalists can indeed be pleasantly surprised to find that some long-forgotten article they had written is referred to in a book. In this case, the author brings up articles by Helena Grech, Gabriel Schembri and Kevin Schembri Orland plus other journalists from other media. For this unusual tribute, we all thank him.
EP Delia
Evaluating Malta's political economy
APS Bank publication
2017
226 pp