38 research outputs found
Expenditure rules for a sounder fiscal position. New perspectives for Italy
No full textThe introduction of expenditure rules in the next future in Italy has been made viable by recent domestic and European budget reforms. Expenditure rules could improve the difficult conditions of the Italian public finance and could remedy to some of its main flaws, in particular, ‘unexpected’ budgetary slippages and poor expenditure control. The analysis is focused on the comparison of some relevant characteristics of three kinds of expenditure rules (a ceiling set in terms of a rate of expenditure growth, a fixed term/rolling basis spending limit and an expenditure ceiling within a debt brake mechanism) and on the impact that their adoption could have on the soundness of the country’s fiscal position. The expenditure counterfactual paths we trace use a real-time data set covering all stages of the budget process. Political acceptability, coherence with the EU and the domestic fiscal frameworks, predictability of resources and transparency differ according to the rule adopted and prevent a clear ranking of the expenditure rules to single out the best solution. However, the expenditure ceilings within the debt brake unquestionably grant better results in terms of fiscal performance
Constitutionalizing the fight against climate change. Insights from France
No full textDecarbonization agendas are hindered by the tensions associated to its regressive distributional consequences, conflicting political objectives, lack of long-term strategies and countries’ institutional structures. The constitutionalization of environmental provisions, embodying values that cannot be easily compromised, has therefore a strong appeal to underpin the climate change battle. We analyse the recent attempt of France - the first among European countries - to entrench the fight against climate change in its constitution. The reform provides an example of the appeal of constitutionalism when the fracture between long-term climate agendas and social - economic reality is deep, hardly composed by domestic institutions and this puts at risk the legitimacy of decarbonization policies. While advocated by large part of the public opinion, the French constitutional reform failed due to poor concertation and the uncertainty surrounding its juridical impact. The French case offers useful insights for governments turning to the constitution to underpin their climate agendas and for scholars analyzing the emergence and consequences of constitutionalizing the fight against climate change
The residential healthcare for the elderly in Italy. Some considerations for post-COVID-19 policies
No full textIn Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of many elderly people have put in evidence the uneven territorial distribution of nursing homes, which have amplified the spread and severity of the pandemic. By applying a pooled OLS model to the Italian Regions, over the 2010-18 period, we investigate the demand factors, market forces and institutional drivers of the spatial distribution of residential healthcare for the elderly. Using a fine-grained approach that considers specific regional and age-related elements and the market environment, which can reduce or increase the pressure on regional governments to provide formal assistance, we find that the financial resources and availability of unemployed women as potential caregivers explain the distribution of expenditure better than the health needs of the elderly. As a result, the expenditure is concentrated in richer and more autonomous Regions and it is not congruent with the distribution of chronicity, health and frailty factors or income among the elderly. These critical issues of the care services for frail elderly people, related to a highly decentralized governance and resulting in fragmented, market-driven provision, could be attacked only by a national reform
Responses to global challenges. Trends in aid-financed global public goods
No full textBased on four decades (1973-2013) of DAC aid to developing countries, this paper aims at showing aid-financed global public goods trends, their changing composition and their main drivers. In particular, a constant increase in the share of aid-financed global public goods, together with a shift towards weighted-sum and weakest-link global goods are observed. Economic conditions, imitation effects, global engagement and domestic spending result as the main drivers of donors' demand of aid-financed global public goods. Besides, a certain complementarity in global goods provision plays a role, especially in European countries and Japan, partially easing the prognosis for the collective action problems related to global good
Global Challenges and Country-Specific Responses through Aid Financing of Global Public Goods
No full textIn this paper we revisit the impact of global public goods (GPGs) in Official Development Assistance budgets using panel data covering the DAC countries during the period 1973-2009. Our findings reveal a weak crowding-out effect of traditional aid and an increasing financing to weakest-link technology GPGs by rich countries aiming at avoiding sub-optimal levels of provision in strategic sectors. Searching for the determinants of GPG-related aid, we find a significant role played by variables expressing donors’ public finance constraints, openness to the rest of the world and preferences for domestic expenditures
La diffusione dei servizi online come indicatore della qualità del settore pubblico
No full textThis paper focuses on the role of public sector in shaping the competitiveness of national economic systems and proposes an alternative measure of the quality of public administrations based on the availability of public e-services. Using the Eiburs-Taips database, which allows a comparative analysis of the diffusion of four typologies of public e-services (eGovernment, Intelligent Transport Systems, eHealth, and eProcurement), different patterns of performance are highlighted across PAs at the national and local (city) levels in EU15. The use of novel e-service based indicators confirms that Mediterranean countries, including Italy, lag behind the best performers of Northern Europe. Over and above national differences, the degree of specialisation in service categories largely varies also within countries and across large cities in Europe, suggesting that public policies should be fine tuned in this respect. Italy exhibits a rather weak performance overall, and in the areas of infomobility and eProcurement in particular, which appear to be the most urgent areas wherein a competitive gap must be filled relative to other EU countries
Public finances and Public Private Partnerships in the European Union
No full textWe analyse the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in order to account for their uneven distribution among the European Union countries and to identify the motivations of the public actor in selecting PPPs. We focus on the fiscal incentives to overcome budget and borrowing constraints, taking also into account of the political features and institutional frameworks of the countries. Using IMF data over the years 1990-2015, we confirm that the state of public finances impacts on the government’s choice of PPPs: financially constrained governments find the PPP option more attractive due to the possibility of off-balance accounting, while high-debt countries reduce the private investors’ interest in PPP. Fiscal rules increased the PPP bias in the pre-crisis period, while the post-crisis reforms and the increased surveillance seem to better discipline PPP employment. PPPs are, also, confirmed to be under the influence of political competition and government’s preferences for current expenditures
Can constitutions bring about revolutions? How to enhance decarbonization success
No full textClimate policy-making and decarbonization require instruments to create and manage economic expectations. There is increasing concern that the existing panoply of domestic (emission trading schemes, regulation, taxes) and external instruments (climate change treaties) be insufficient to anchor expectations to decarbonization and isolate abatement policies from risk to be reneged or insufficiently implemented. The paper argues that constitutional provisions could represent the help policymakers need in committing to combat climate change and setting their policy goals in a low-carbon direction. This role is empirically confirmed by applying a pooled OLS on a sample of 168 countries covering different geographic areas over the period 2010–2014. We also confirm the role of multi-level governance in disciplining carbon emissions and advocate for the right to atmospheric integrity to be embedded at EU treaty level
Public finance, fiscal rules and public–private partnerships. Lessons for Post-COVID-19 investment plans
No full textWe explore the distribution of public-private partnerships (PPPs) among the European Union countries, with a special focus on fiscal rules and budgetary constraints while controlling for empirically identified drivers. While offering the opportunity to increase innovation and efficiency in the public sector infrastructure, PPPs allow governments to relax their budget and borrowing constraints. We find that the state of public finances influences the government's choice of PPPs and makes them more appealing for reasons other than efficiency. Stringent numerical rules on the budget balance also foster government's opportunism in the choice of PPPs. On the other hand, high levels of public debt increase the country risk, and discourage private investors from PPP contracts. The results highlight the importance of restoring PPP investment choices based on efficiency criteria and adapt fiscal rules to shield public investment while stabilizing private expectations by means of credible trajectories of debt reduction. The findings contribute to the debate on the role of fiscal rules in fiscal policy and of PPPs in infrastructure financing
