This paper evaluatesthe distributional and welfare effects of two recent changesof Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes in Italy applying andcomparing two related and complementary methods of analysis:the first based on the distributional characteristics of Feldstein(1972) and recently applied...

One vexed question of anti-poverty strategies is that of setting a reasonable poverty line. To escape its specification, recent developments by <link rid="b8">Yitzhaki and Slemrod (1991</link>) have introduced the correspondence between non-intersecting concentration curves and poverty reducing directions of reforms....

This paper investigates the effects of the UK privatization process by estimating changes in household welfare on the basis of real relative price changes. As measured on the basis of price changes at the consumer level, privatization has generated aggregate welfare gains for households. When...

This paper addresses the historical evolution of benefit-based taxation, with particular reference to the contribution of the Italian school of public finance. In particular, it is shown that the positive interpretation of the benefit theory as a criterion of rationality and judgment is well...

This paper provides for the first time a full decomposition of world inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, in the period 1970-2009. In particular, using the Analysis of Gini (ANOGI), the paper describes the evolution of between inequality, within inequality and the impact of...

The aim of this article is to compare the economic well-being associated to the distribution of earnings in Italy. To this purpose, dominance techniques are extensively used to minimize the disagreement about the set of social values introduced into the analysis. We will show that even in a...

This paper explains how to build Lorenz Curves for income distributions and discusses their use for inequality measurement. A short conceptual background, a step-by-step procedure and a simple numerical example illustrate how to calculate and draw Lorenz Curves. A discussion on the use of Lorenz...

This paper illustrates how Crossing Generalised Lorenz (GL) curves can be used to identify the best income distribution on social welfare grounds within a set of alternative income distributions generated by different policy options. It starts by illustrating two alternative income distributions...

This paper deals with how the reform regulating fiscal federalism in Italy (L. 42/2009) addresses three problems. First, how to finance additional sub-central competencies with local taxes, especially when they involve the provision of minimum or essential levels of service (e.g. health)....

This paper addresses the issues of whether and how the degree of economic integration may affect central government tax revenues and the intensity of decentralisation. To this purpose, we empirically test the direct impact of economic integration on central tax revenues using the concept of...