IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_84_11.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The quality of public services in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Amanda Carmignani

    (Banca d'Italia)

  • Francesco Bripi

    (Banca d'Italia)

  • Raffaela Giordano

    (Banca d'Italia)

Abstract

This paper provides a survey of a number of studies conducted in recent years, above all at the Bank of Italy, aiming at assessing the quality and the efficiency of public services in Italy. We consider services provided by the central government (education and civil justice), regional governments (health) and municipalities (local public transportation, waste disposal, water and gas supply, and childcare). The analysis shows in general that Italy lags behind noticeably compared with other countries and there are large regional differences in terms of both quality and efficiency, regardless of the level of government providing the service. The lags seem to be attributable, depending on the case, to agents� incentives, citizens� behaviour and the regulation. Furthermore, the analysis emphasizes the need for more information to enhance our understanding of the problems and improve the effectiveness of action taken to counter them.

Suggested Citation

  • Amanda Carmignani & Francesco Bripi & Raffaela Giordano, 2011. "The quality of public services in Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 84, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_84_11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2011-0084/QEF_84.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aschauer, David Alan, 2000. "Public Capital and Economic Growth: Issues of Quantity, Finance, and Efficiency," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 391-406, January.
    2. Klapper, Leora & Laeven, Luc & Rajan, Raghuram, 2006. "Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 591-629, December.
    3. Gianna Barbieri & Piero Cipollone & Paolo Sestito, 2007. "Labour Market for Teachers: Demographic Characteristics and Allocative Mechanisms," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 66(3), pages 335-373, November.
    4. Del Boca, Daniela & Pronzato, Chiara & Pasqua, Silvia, 2006. "The impact of institutions on motherhood and work," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-55, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, "undated". "What Determines Firm Size?," CRSP working papers 496, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    6. Magda Bianco & Silvia Giacomelli, 2004. "Efficienza della giustizia e imprenditorialit?: il caso italiano," ECONOMIA E POLITICA INDUSTRIALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2004(124).
    7. Rita Cappariello & Roberta Zizza, 2010. "Dropping the Books and Working Off the Books," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(2), pages 139-162, June.
    8. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 2005. "Human Capital and Technology Diffusion," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 935-966, Elsevier.
    9. Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco & Bianco, Magda, 2005. "Courts and Banks: Effects of Judicial Enforcement on Credit Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(2), pages 223-244, April.
    10. A. Rosolia & P. Cipollone, 2004. "Social Interactions in Schooling," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 335, Econometric Society.
    11. Amanda Carmignani & Silvia Giacomelli, 2010. "Too many lawyers? Litigation in Italian civil courts," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 745, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Maura Francese & Marzia Romanelli, 2011. "Healthcare in Italy: expenditure determinants and regional differentials," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 828, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Raffaela Giordano & Pietro Tommasino, 2013. "Public-Sector Efficiency and Political Culture," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 69(3), pages 289-316, September.
    14. Luc Laeven & Christopher Woodruff, 2007. "The Quality of the Legal System, Firm Ownership, and Firm Size," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(4), pages 601-614, November.
    15. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    16. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    17. Magda Bianco & Silvia Giacomelli & Cristina Giorgiantonio & Giuliana Palumbo & Bruna Szego, 2007. "La durata (eccessiva) dei procedimenti civili in Italia: offerta, domanda o rito?," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 97(5), pages 3-54, September.
    18. Robert J. Barro, 2001. "Human Capital and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 12-17, May.
    19. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2007. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 925-985, December.
    20. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2007. "The Role of School Improvement in Economic Development," NBER Working Papers 12832, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Sauro Mocetti, 2012. "Educational choices and the selection process: before and after compulsory schooling," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 189-209, February.
    22. Stefano Scarpetta & Philip Hemmings & Thierry Tressel & Jaejoon Woo, 2002. "The Role of Policy and Institutions for Productivity and Firm Dynamics: Evidence from Micro and Industry Data," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 329, OECD Publishing.
    23. Salvador Barrios & Andrea Schaechter, 2008. "The quality of public finances and economic growth," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 337, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miguel García-Posada & Juan Mora-Sanguinetti, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and enforcement institutions: disaggregated evidence for Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 49-74, August.
    2. Giacomelli, Silvia & Menon, Carlo, 2012. "Firm size and judicial efficiency in Italy: evidence from the neighbour's tribunal," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58339, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Marilene Lorizio & Antonia Rosa Gurrieri, 2017. "Resilient Smes, Institutions And Justice. Evidence In Italy," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 20, pages 131-155, December.
    4. Miguel García-Posada & Juan Mora-Sanguinetti, 2015. "Does (average) size matter? Court enforcement, business demography and firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 639-669, March.
    5. Falavigna, Greta & Ippoliti, Roberto, 2023. "SMEs’ behavior under financial constraints: An empirical investigation on the legal environment and the substitution effect with tax arrears," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. Åsa Johansson, 2016. "Public Finance, Economic Growth and Inequality: A Survey of the Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1346, OECD Publishing.
    7. Panayotis Kapopoulos & Anastasios Rizos, 2024. "Judicial efficiency and economic growth: Evidence based on European Union data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 71(1), pages 101-131, February.
    8. Mitton, Todd, 2008. "Institutions and concentration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 367-394, June.
    9. Carmela Martin & Francisco J. Velazquez & Bernard Funck, 2001. "European Integration and Income Convergence : Lessons for Central and Eastern European Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13968, April.
    10. Giuseppina Gianfreda & Giovanna Vallanti, 2020. "Labor Courts and Firing Costs: The Labor‐Market Effects of Trial Delays," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 40-84, January.
    11. Pina, Alvaro Manuel & St. Aubyn, Miguel, 2005. "Comparing macroeconomic returns on human and public capital: An empirical analysis of the Portuguese case (1960-2001)," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 585-598, July.
    12. Halkos, George & Paizanos, Epameinondas, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic performance: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature," MPRA Paper 67737, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Carmela Martin & Francisco J. Velazquez., 2001. "An Assessment of Real Convergence of Less Developed EU Members: Lessons for the CEEC Candidates," European Economy Group Working Papers 5, European Economy Group.
    14. Ng, Choy Peng & Law, Teik Hua & Wong, Shaw Voon & Kulanthayan, S., 2017. "Relative improvements in road mobility as compared to improvements in road accessibility and economic growth: A cross-country analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 24-33.
    15. Boopen Seetanah, 2011. "Optimal endowments of transport investment: an empirical analysis for mauritius," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 827-838, May.
    16. Raquel Fonseca Benito & Natalia Utrero, 2007. "Employment Protection Laws, Barriers to Entrepreneurship, Financial Markets and Firm Size," Working Papers 454, RAND Corporation.
    17. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Ricardo Pérez-Valls, 2021. "How does regulatory complexity affect business demography? Evidence from Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 203-242, April.
    18. Vincenzo Pezone, 2023. "The Real Effects of Judicial Enforcement," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 889-933.
    19. Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel, 2014. "Does business regulation matter for banks in the European Union?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 278-324.
    20. Silberberger, Magdalene & Königer, Jens, 2016. "Regulation, trade and economic growth," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 308-322.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    public services; efficiency; decentralization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • H76 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Other Expenditure Categories

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_84_11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.