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Are austerity measures really distressing? Evidence from Italy

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  • Cirulli, Vanessa
  • Marini, Giorgia

Abstract

Since 2007 financial recovery plans have been adopted by some Italian regions to contain the costs of the healthcare sector. It is legitimate to ask whether spending cuts associated with the austerity policy have had any effect on the health of the citizens. We examine the indirect impact of financial recovery plans on a broad set of health indicators, accounting for several dimensions of both physical and psychological diseases. We use an instrumental variable fixed-effects model to control for time-varying heterogeneity and to deal with the potential endogeneity of the enrolment in the austerity programme. We find that the Italian austerity policy Piano di Rientro resulted in unintended negative effects on several dimensions of health, hurting and potentially jeopardising the health of citizens.

Suggested Citation

  • Cirulli, Vanessa & Marini, Giorgia, 2023. "Are austerity measures really distressing? Evidence from Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:49:y:2023:i:c:s1570677x22001137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101217
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    1. Guccio, C. & Pignatora, G. & Vidoli, F., 2023. "It never rains but it pours: Austerity and mortality rate in peripheral areas," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Maria Alessandra Antonelli & Giorgia Marini, 2023. "Good health with good institutions. An empirical analysis for italian regions," Public Finance Research Papers 61, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    3. Caravaggio, Nicola & Resce, Giuliano, 2023. "Enhancing Healthcare Cost Forecasting: A Machine Learning Model for Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous Regions," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp23090, University of Molise, Department of Economics.
    4. Andrea Ciaccio, 2023. "The Impact of a Cost-containment Measure on the Quality of Regional Health Services in Italy: a Parametric and a Non-parametric Approach," Working Papers 2023: 24, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recovery plan; Mortality rate; Infectious disease; Discharge rate; Distress;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises

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