Loris Vergolini

Designing effective educational policies: what can we learn from an Italian case study

We discuss the design and implementation of educational programmes aimed at increasing university enrolment. We focus on a means-test policy introduced in the Italian province of Trento, which consists of a monetary incentive in the form of a grant. To reduce inequalities in access to higher education, aid is awarded according to merit and financial need. Previous research has shown that this programme has no effect on the university enrolment. Therefore, our aim is to understand, through examination of a unique data set, why the policy failed; we also argue that the most effective design of educational policies considers the targeted populations demand for higher education, as well as socioeconomic context. In this way, we provide insight into the formalisation and efficacy of the eligibility conditions. Though our research is concerned with a province, our findings have important implications for how educational programmes should be designed and implemented nationwide and abroad.

La valutazione degli effetti di una misura locale contro la povertà: il Reddito di Garanzia in provincia di Trento

In 2009, the autonomous Province of Trento introduced a minimum income scheme, known as Reddito di Garanzia, to relieve poor families living in the local community. The paper focuses on the results of a counterfactual impact evaluation of this policy. The data used to carry out the evaluation comes from a two waves panel survey, which involved a sample of recipients (treatment group) and a sample of non-recipients (control group). The evaluation strategy is based on a Difference-in-Differences design and the analyses are carried out separately for natives and immigrants. The analyses show that the programme has: (i) reduced the material deprivation of immigrants; (ii) increased their expenses for food consumptions; (iii) expanded social relations of native recipients; and (iv) barely affected the participation in the labour market participation of both native and immigrants.