Multi-level Governance: The General Model and the Italian Experience

During the last twenty years, the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity and the identification of regions as political entities for the coordination of structural expenditure at the local level have led to the adoption of the principle of multi-level governance (MLG), on which principle EU government action is still based. The principle is based on the notion that the spread of governing practices (governance) across various institutions, and hence jurisdictions, results in a greater efficiency of allocation and an improved regulatory capacity compared to what more centralized governmental models are capable of yelding. According to this view, multi-level forms of government are better able to identify the effects of external economies which arise from the supply of public goods at different territorial levels. In other words, a multi-level governmental model enables, more so than other models, these external economies to be internalized and, at the same time, complex and heterogeneous demand from the local populations to be met through territorial intervention policies. Within this framework we will describe the multi level governance (MLG) model adopted from all the Countries of the EU, which constitutes the basis for national and local Public Administrations’ actions in the field of the social and economic development policy addressed to the disadvantaged areas of the Communitarian territory. We will present: a theoretical description of the model MLG in its different categories; the category adopted as a target by the EU with its specific characteristics, and the way those characteristics determine, in terms of operating consequences, the definition of objectives, responsibilities and roles. With reference to the Italian case, we will also describe the practical effects of the MLG model both on the communitarian and national funds governance.Regional development, fiscal decentralization, multi-level governance, panel data

Decentralization of territorial policy in Italy - the coherence with the model of multi-level governance and the effects on responsibilities of public spending

The past twenty years have seen the communitarian system of multi level governance (MLG) being established as a model of territorial policies governance. In the MLG, several levels of jurisdiction participate to decision making and Regions assume a relevant role in managing policies of development. This article highlights how such a system, mostly led by Public Institutions, cuts transaction costs being based on principles aimed at increasing the number of decision makers, as well as at making all governing levels and the processes of institutional coordination more effective. The article investigates two issues: a) to what extent the reorganization of the Italian system is compatible with the main characteristics of Communitarian MLG system in the governance of territorial policies; b) to what extent the decentralization in programming policies of development has gone with a transfer of capital expenses from a central (Central Administration) to local (Regional and Local Bodies) jurisdictions. The hypotheses to be tested refer to the decentralization process so far recorded in Italy: the first hypothesis is that such a process would not be fully shareable, neither with regard to the characteristics of the Communitarian MLG model, nor to the general considerations deriving by the theory of fiscal federalism; secondly, the process wouldn’t seem suitably supported by a symmetrical transfer of the expenses from the Central Government’s jurisdiction to local bodies’.Territorial policy, Multi Level Governance, institutional decentralization, OLS panel fixed-effects models

Economic Space Trajectory through Different Regional Growth Models

Since the early 1990s, regional economic growth processes assume a key role in the EU policy agenda as a main tool to enhance social and economic convergence within the EU spatial landscape. Literature on regional economic growth and convergence provides some evidence on the most relevant factors affecting economic processes, mainly assuming homogeneity of production functions and steady state conditions in cross-section and panel regressions. In this framework, assuming a minimal definition of transitional steady state, econometric methods are adopted to identify regional characteristics and examine the determinants of different development models. The quantitative analysis is centred on - LSDV (Least Square Dummy Variables) estimates to cluster EU 11 regions (EU 13 excluding UK and Ireland due to lack of statistical data) by defining homogeneous latent structures affecting different transitional growth patterns; - coupled with multinomial conditional logit models to qualify the spatial distribution of expected vs actual regional gaps. Even conscious of the shortcomings of the described neoclassical production function convergence and divergence mechanisms, a sort of metaphor of substantive economic behaviour, three main findings for an explorative analysis are proposed i) the role of enlarged neoclassical production function and, at same time, its limited weight on average with respect to social and political factors as well as other stock fundamental determinants; ii) the deep differences of above defined weight of enlarged neoclassical production function at regional level in Europe; iii) the need for an adaptive governance of EU finance effort, within the same strategic objective of convergence.Economic regional growth, Panel models

Households Food Expenditures Behaviours And Socioeconomic Welfare In Italy: A Microeconometric Analysis

The paper aims to investigate food expenditure behaviours and dynamics of Italian households, by identifying the main characteristics of different socioeconomic groups. In particular, the study focuses on relevant food categories in terms of healthy diet to investigate different food styles consumers. In this framework, the paper stresses the linkages between food demand behaviours and socioeconomic characteristics to give some insights on the difference between wealthy/not wealthy consumers. The analysis uses the 2000 and 2006 Consumption Expenditure Surveys at household level, implemented by the Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT), that provide useful data on households socioeconomic conditions and consumption expenditures dynamics on a cross-sectional population sample of about 24000 units. In a first step, the work analyses food expenditures characteristics and dynamics across different consumers classes in order to describe demand profiles. In a second step, the work directly investigates relations between socioeconomic characteristics (e.g. income, age, household size, education) and households food expenditures, by adopting advanced econometric methods, e.g. quantile regression methods, to identify existing differences across socioeconomic groups.Food expenditures determinants, econometric methods, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The reuse of sediments dredged from artificial reservoirs for beach nourishment: Technical and economic feasibility

Sedimentation has significant impacts on the useful capacity of an artificial reservoir, a resource to preserve. Interventions of dredging are therefore often unavoidable, even because decommissioning of dams is often impossible in many contexts and entails high costs. Dredging generates an undesired accumulation of materials that represent an environmental cost, but that could be used as intermediate products in other processes, such as beach nourishment. The study develops a method for the evaluation of the feasibility of an investment aimed at coastal nourishment with sediments dredged from artificial reservoirs. The method considers the set of technical conditions that make such use possible. The presence of economies of scope, with environmental diseconomies utilized as joint product, modifies the evaluation approach. The results of the approach show a possible environmental and economic sustainability of the proposed investment even in the presence of highly unfavorable scenarios. The study applies the feasibility appraisal to the case of the Guardialfiera reservoir in Molise, Italy