One of the many side effects of the pandemic has been the unchecked spread of management consultants. Vast government projects – once the domain of ministers and civil servants – have been outsourced to a swelling parallel state. And while every country has its own homegrown consultants, one company in particular seems to be everywhere.
At the weekend, Mario Draghi, Italy’s unelected, technocratic prime minister, hired consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Its role? To help decide how best to spend Italy’s €209 billion slice of the EU Recovery Fund. This is an extraordinary coup. Draghi is essentially drawing on a consultancy firm to shape the central plank of his domestic policy agenda – securing the post-pandemic recovery, and keeping a tight leash on the use of EU funds, are supposed to be the key justifications for his appointment.
Over in France, a nation known for its strong state and its elite caste of public administrators, the growth of consultancy spending during the pandemic has been a bigger shock to the system than elsewhere. And the lion’s share of Covid consulting contracts went to… McKinsey.
One of the many side effects of the pandemic has been the unchecked spread of management consultants. Vast government projects – once the domain of ministers and civil servants – have been outsourced to a swelling parallel state. And while every country has its own homegrown consultants, one company in particular seems to be everywhere.
Read More: McKinsey & Company: Super-Spreaders Of Technocracy
