On 19 and 20 September the Department of Economics and Statistics “S. Cognetti de Martiis” of the University of Turin will host the XXXI Conference of SIEP – Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica (Italian Society of Public Economy) during which SOSE will illustrate three research projects, two in the session Local Finance and one in the session dedicated to Fiscal Policy.

In the session dedicated to local finance, Francesco Porcelli, Responsible for the Technical Area for Public Finance Analysis and Giovanna Di Ielsi, economic analyst in SOSE will present the results of the study Unions of Municipalities: a comparison between associated management models, carried out twenty years after that TUEL was modified starting the process towards the development of the Unions of Municipalities. The study, in collaboration with prof. Fabio Fiorillo at the Polytechnic University of Marche, defines and describes in detail two main models: the first one, called for simplicity Piedmontese, that involves small municipalities, and the second one, Emilian, in which the Unions tend to aggregate around a leading medium-sized  municipality. Due to the different objectives and results obtained, the two models represent a different answer to the need to contain increasing expenditure and to promote efficient and affordable local services.

In the same session prof. Alberto Zanardi  of the Parliamentary Budget Office and Antonella Evangelista, statistical analyst in SOSE will present a study entitled The determinants of the fiscal distress of Italian municipalities: how much is it due to inadequate resources compared to needs? The objective of this work is to study on the empirical level some possible determinants of critical financial situations of local governments regarding equity (resource allocation between municipalities in compliance with equalization criteria) and efficiency (local administrators’ capacity to guarantee adequate expenditure standards to citizens). The analysis is carried out considering financial instability and pre-instability situations declared by Italian Municipalities in the period 2012-2017.

The third study will be presented in the session Fiscal Policy. Francesco Porcelli will present the analysis Tax Expenditures, Trust and Rent Seeking: what the evidence of OECD Countries says to us?  carried out in collaboration with prof. Mauro Marè of the University Luiss in Rome focused on the role of taxation in OCSE Countries and on the new approach of Governments in the last thirty years.

The details of the program and the registration procedures for the XXI Yearly SIEP Conference are available at the following link: http://www.siepweb.it/siep/it/xxxi-conferenza-2019