This work aims to contribute to the contingency view of the relationships between social protection and economic performances, by exploring under what conditions social expenditure is productivity-enhancing or not. Well-designed welfare states and fit socio-economic contexts can yield direct and...

In city districts in Rome, social and economic inequalities between centre and peripheral belts have been increasing over the last years, in parallel to the on-going suburban sprawl. Electoral data from 2000 to 2013 highlight sharp political polarization too. Votes for left-wing (right-wing)...

Oecd database on net total social expenditure 2001 to 2007 refers to both public and private (by family and business) expenditure, in order to overcome statistical issues in international comparisons due to a wide difference in welfare structures and financing. Evidence from the Oecd countries...