International institutions are recommending policies aimed at shift- ing the tax burden from labour and business incomes to less growth- detrimental forms of taxation, such as consumption taxes. However, de- spite the expected positive macroeconomic effects, a criticism about in- creasing the...

The entrance of Italy in the Euro area in 2001 has given rise to a wide debate about the perception of inflation on households’ well-being. However, most of the debate has involved the measurement of the “correct†consumer price index at national level. Much less analysis has...

This paper assesses the relative merits of tax credits for dependent children and child benefits in redistributing income and alleviating poverty in Italy. The main result is that the great emphasis put by Italian policy-makers in designing tax credits in the last 15 years has been mostly...