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Central Targets and local Agendas: Missing Lisbon 2010

Author

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  • Maria Alessandra Antonelli

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Veronica Grembi

    (Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

In a decentralized setting, are policy targets imposed by the central government on local elected officials effective? And when? We address these questions in Italy, where the central government has set a target for childcare coverage at the municipal level for Southern regions since 2007. We first implement a difference-in-differences estimator where the municipalities already complying with the target comprise the control group. We then implement a triple-difference estimator with the additional control group of municipalities in the bordering Central regions. Our results show that elected officials comply with the target mainly when it is coherent with voters’ preferences (as measured by the characteristics of the resident female population) and in reaction to political incentives (as measured by partisan alignment among levels of government).

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Alessandra Antonelli & Veronica Grembi, 2014. "Central Targets and local Agendas: Missing Lisbon 2010," Public Finance Research Papers 6, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    • Handle: RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:0006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Corazzini, Luca & Meschi, Elena & Pavese, Caterina, 2021. "Impact of early childcare on immigrant children’s educational performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Central targets; Political Incentives; Local Politicians; Difference-in- Difference-in-Difference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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