Designing Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations: Some Insights from the Recent Italian Reform

Giampaolo Arachi () and Alberto Zanardi

Fiscal Studies, 2004, vol. 25, issue 3, pages 325-365

Abstract: During the last decade, the Italian system of intergovernmental fiscal relations has been involved in a radical process of reform that is still under way. The reform has assigned Regions new taxing powers and has introduced a new system of interregional transfers. This paper provides a review of the recent reform and offers some tentative answers to the issues still open, relying on a series of simulations and projections. A number of conclusions have been reached. First, when the long-run performance of the new financing systems is investigated, regional resources may no longer be adequate to meet future health needs. Second, the incentives for active tax policies seem either to prove too weak or even to cause undesirable results. Finally, the complete devolution to the Regions of some significant public expenditure functions risks strengthening the polarisation of financial flows between the Northern and Southern Regions in the long run.

JEL-codes: H7 H71 H72 H77 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (3) Track citations by RSS feed

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ifs:fistud:v:25:y:2004:i:3:p:325-365

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Fiscal Studies from Institute for Fiscal Studies
Address: The Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street LONDON WC1E 7AE
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Stephanie Seavers ().