La dimensione territoriale dell'offerta di servizi pubblici in Italia: una fotografia dell'esistente[The territorial dimension of public service provision in Italy: a snapshot]

The study describes the territorial dimension of the delivery of public services, both at central and at local level, providing evidence on aspects such as expenditure, human resources, financial endowment, quality and quantity of services provided. The review shows that public intervention tends to be less effective in areas that need it most. Differences in the outcomes of public functions delivered at central level are not attributable to an uneven distribution of financial and human resources, but are largely explained by supply or demand observable characteristics. Instead, when local public services are considered, the allocation of expenditure and that of productive factors appear completely misaligned with respect to the needs of the territories: the qualitative-quantitative differences in the levels of services consequently take on extreme characteristics, contributing to a vicious circle between public sector failures, economic inequalities and demographic decline.