How to profit as Italy heads to the polls

Whoever wins the Italian election will inherit a crisis spiralling out of control. Matthew Partridge explains what's likely to follow, and how you could profit.

It's safe to say that there aren't many politicians with the staying power of Silvio Berlusconi. Less than four months ago, he was sentenced to a year in jail for tax fraud. And he still faces other criminal charges. Yet the polls still suggest that there's an astonishingly good chance thatthe former prime minister will actually win next week's election in Italy.

This is clearly amusing in its own way given how many people breathed a sigh of relief when it looked like jail might be the end of 'bunga bunga Berlusconi' as a political force. But it also comes with some very unfunny implications.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri