Since the 1980s there has been concern about the rising costs for higher education and most governments required more private spending at university levels. The channelling of private resources into higher education through financial contributions by students is being actively discussed in...

Examines Attilio da Empoli’s contributions in the field of public finance. This scholar was endowed with particular scientific qualities which allowed him to give original contributions to the theory of public finance, in particular in the field of oblique and backward tax shifting. The other...

This paper examines the issue of public debt sharing among the Italian Regions in a future federal State. The issue has generally been neglected in the literature, despite the great debate that has arisen over federalism. On the basis of theoretical and empirical arguments, the paper shows that...

The subject of needs is the centre of attention of Italian public finance scholars. The financial activity of the State is justified by the existence of collective or public needs to whose satisfaction collective or public goods and services are linked. Italian economists have studied the...

The present paper examines the theories of progressive taxation debated in the Italian public finance literature between the end of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. The survey presents only the main arguments, stressing their connection with the...

This paper examines public expenditure in the Italian public finance literature between the end of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. Three aspects are considered: the factors that determine the growth of public expenditure; integration of the tax and...