 Private response to exclusionary welfare policy: Evidence from Italian municipalitiesMassimo Pulejo Journal of Public Economics, 2025, vol. 248, issue C Abstract: Exclusionary welfare policies are among the flagship proposals in the economic agenda of the far right. Yet, there is little empirical evidence as to whether – after gaining power – such parties do indeed cut welfare provisions for immigrants. Using data on more than 6 million procurement contracts within a close-election Regression Discontinuity Design, I estimate that Italian mayors supported by the far right significantly cut welfare spending for immigrants and refugees. However, using novel data on volunteering associations, I also show that the narrow victory of a far-right coalition is followed by a 9.6 % growth in the per-capita number of local NGOs. The effect is driven by social welfare associations, which provide poverty relief and assistance to vulnerable individuals. Individual-level survey data document how the growth in volunteering is driven by left-leaning citizens with positive attitudes toward immigrants. These findings show how – following political turnovers – the non-profit sector can substitute the state in the provision of public goods that are off the agenda of incumbent policymakers. Keywords: Social welfare; Immigration; Non-profit; Populism; Local government (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:248:y:2025:i:c:s0047272725001239 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105425 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Public Economics is currently edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier |
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