Corruption and health expenditure in Italian Regions

In Italy, the corruption is a social phenomenon affecting the health sector. In this paper we show that the impact of corruption on Italian health expenditure is positive, along with ageing population, technological change and supply factors inducing demand in pharmaceuticals and hospitalization. Moreover, the empirical analysis shows that corruption affects pharmaceutical expenditure and conventionated private hospital expenditure, suggesting a relation between corruption and the governance of Italian health system.