This paper has two principal objectives. Using a tax benefit microsimulation model and 1998 microdata of the Bank of Italy survey, we first study the distributional effects of the current Italian income maintenance system, and highlight its main defects and limitations, concerning in particular its unequal coverage of the population and its low efficiency in fighting poverty. The second aim is to describe and analyse the reforms recently implemented in this field; in particular, the Italian government has reformed the targeting criteria and introduced three new cash transfers. We describe these reforms both in their institutional characteristics and in their likely distributional consequences, and examine whether and to what extent they are able to overcome the shortcomings of the current system.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Mitchell, Deborah & Harding, Ann & Gruen, Fred, 1994.
"Targeting Welfare,"
The Economic Record,
The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 70(210), pages 315-40, September.
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Albuquerque J & Baldini M & Bargain O & Bosi P & Levy H & Mantovani D & Matsaganis M & Mercader-Prats M & O'Donoghue C & Farinha Rodrigues C & Spadaro A & Toso S & Terraz I & Tsakloglou P, 2002.
"The impact of means tested assistance in Southern Europe,"
EUROMOD Working Papers
em6/01, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
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