Sulla political economy della spesa pubblica nell’Italia liberale

This paper empirically analyzes the demand for public goods in Italy over the period 1861-1913 in a political economy perspective and concentrates on fiscal illusion. The analysis suggests that the relationship between public expenditure and deficit is typically a long-run one. There is also a negative short-run relationship between public expenditures and the price of private goods showing complementarity between private and public goods; instead, in the long-run substitutability prevails. The impact of both income distribution and the number of voters on the public expenditures is variable over time