In this paper we analyse the so-called planning contracts which are adopted for the Italian Mezzogiorno from the point of view of the theory of incentives. The Italian Government is the principal who wants to promote economic development in Southern regions of the country. Large firms, both...

In this paper we analyse data on the rates of return of investment projects sponsored by three international institutions: the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank. The focus of the paper is on the evaluation of the variability of ex-ante economic...

Wagner's Law would imply an exponential growth process of the ratio between public expenditures and national income (G/Y). However the law may be rejected both on theoretical and empirical reasons, because it disregards the role of ever increasing distortionary taxation. But, under some...

Less than ten years ago John Williamson of the Institute for International Economics summarized a recipe for structural adjustment and development in Latin America into ten ingredients. According to Williamson the recipe was "generally applicable" elsewhere, and universally agreed upon in...

In this paper we analyse data on the rates of return of investment projects sponsored by three international institutions: the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank. The focus of the paper is on the variability of ex-ante economic rate of returns...

The purpose of the paper is to analyse some results of cost-benefit analysis in a sample of ISPA (Structural Instrument for pre-accession countries) projects. The focus is particularly on the variability of financial and economic rates of return and how to integrate this information in the EU...

The paper considers price trends as signals for the evaluation of reforms leading to ownership or market structure changes in public services. In order to do so, we focus on a specific example: electricity prices in four countries, namely UK, France, Germany and Italy. We consider that these...

The privatisation policy pursued in the UK by Mrs Thatcher's government (1979-1990) and subsequently by Mr Major's government (1990-1997) was the largest experiment in public divestitures among capitalist economies. It had a deep impact on economic policy-making world wide, and was vastly...

We study the impact on consumers of privatization and liberalization in the telecommunication sector for 15 EU Countries. Policy reforms are summarized by the OECD regulatory indicators (REGREF), that consider the extent of privatization, vertical disintegration, and market entry. After...

This paper analyses the effects on consumers' welfare of the privatisation policy carried out in the UK since 1979. The approach we follow sees the privatisation of a State owned enterprise within the broader framework of the policy reform theory (Dreze and Stern, 1990). By adopting this...