According to the Decentralization Theorem, local governments are more efficient than centralized ones in providing local public services, since resident citizens’ needs differ from those of citizens from other places. Local governments may better meet residents’ needs than a central...

Regulatory complexity and bureaucracy inefficiencies increase the time needed and the cost of starting a business and therefore reduce the competitiveness of a country. Since the early 1990s Italy, in the same way as other developed countries, has been trying to introduce some reforms to boost...

General government activity in the field of education has recently assumed new interest due to the importance of two analytical objectives: a) the existence of substitution or complementary processes between public and private expenditure in education; b) the importance of public expenditure in...

In current debate, economic development is connected with relative social capital endowment, the diffusion of co-operative practices between firms and the role and efficiency of institutions. In this paper a factor analysis approach is used to provide synthetic indicators of these variables for...

The paper discusses the economic problem and the institutional features underlying the Nimby syndrome, and illustrates preliminary empirical evidence for Italy. It argues that siting procedures taking local preferences into account should be preferred when the heterogeneity in preferences across...

Il paper si colloca nell'attuale dibattito politico-istituzionale in Europa sugli incentivi allo sviluppo locale e sulla promozione di imprese innovative dal basso. Il paper, tra le diverse politiche, si focalizza sul progetto di riforma del welfare basato sul decentramento, inteso come...

The discussion around the adequateness of the Constitution to the current economic setting is still ongoing. To see where, this discussion will lead eventually, it is interesting to compare the Italian decentralization process with a similar process undertaken in Belgium. This contribution...

This work analyses the relationship between the efficiency gains and the redistributive impact of the reform aimed at introducing fiscal federalism in Italy. In the recent past the reform substituted fiscal transfers once provided by central government with local taxes. By 2001 an equalization...