Giuseppe Di Liddo

Measuring Horizontal Fiscal Imbalances: the case of Italian Municipalities

ABSTRACT In the literature on fiscal federalism, vertical fiscal imbalance has been widely studied, while the theme of horizontal fiscal imbalance and inequality among local governments, due to differences in their fiscal capacities, has been less explored. This article contributes to fill the gap. A new method to compute fiscal capacities based on regression analysis is proposed, which can overcome some of the drawbacks of traditional methods such as the representative tax system. This new approach is then employed to evaluate the fiscal capacities of Italian municipalities over the period 2002–2010. Finally two global measures of the horizontal fiscal imbalance are used to evaluate the equity implication of a major policy change occurred in 2008 in Italian municipal finance.In the literature on fiscal federalism, vertical fiscal imbalance has been widely studied, while the theme of horizontal fiscal imbalance and inequality among local governments, due to differences in their fiscal capacities, has been less explored. This article contributes to fill the gap. A new method to compute fiscal capacities based on regression analysis is proposed, which can overcome some of the drawbacks of traditional methods such as the representative tax system. This new approach is then employed to evaluate the fiscal capacities of Italian municipalities over the period 2002–2010. Finally two global measures of the horizontal fiscal imbalance are used to evaluate the equity implication of a major policy change occurred in 2008 in Italian municipal finance.

Government size, decentralization and growth: empirical evidence from Italian regions

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to empirically assess the relationship among government size, decentralization and economic growth in Italian ordinary regions. The empirical analysis, based on a panel dataset on Italian regions, provides evidence in support of the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between public expenditure and economic growth, that depends on the degree of fiscal decentralization. In particular, according to our estimates on the specific Italian case, the optimal degree of decentralization is around 32%, while the optimal government size value is approximately 52%.

Cooperazione locale in Italia: le unioni di comuni

This study presents an analysis of the financial statements of consortia from 2005 to 2012. The data come from the final accounts made available by the Ministry of Interior and cover 404 consortia and 2,090 participating municipalities that, with an average adhesion of 5.17 municipalities per consortium, represent 25.95% of the total municipalities. The goal of the analysis is to identify the existence of different types of consortia, characterized by both the composition of joint expenses and financing sources, and to assess the effect that the consortium has on both the overall levels of spending and its composition. In light of the above data, we can state that the weight, in terms of revenue and expenditure of municipal consortia, within the Italian public administration has so far been modest. However, the degree of activism of consortia, in terms of the ratio between the consortium per capita expenditure and the per capita expenditure of the belonging municipalities, is very heterogeneous both regionally and for spending functions.