Economic developments in the Italian regions in 2006

The Economy of the Italian Regions in the year 2006 analyzes the evolution of production, labour market, financial aggregates and regional public finances in the four main Italian territorial areas. Topics analyzed focus on structural change in the Italian economy; trends in Mezzogiorno's exports; the evolution of local markets for university-level education after the introduction of a three-year degree; and the composition of households' financial assets and liabilities. Also examined are regional regulation in the commerce sector and the management of local public transportation. Two final points of focus relate to local public finances: the degree of regional taxation flexibility, and the main peculiarities of the five special statute regions.Italian Regions, Economic Developments

Italian Household Wealth: Background, Main Results, Outlook

The paper offers a broad overview of the topics addressed during the Bank of Italy's conference on Household wealth in Italy held in Perugia (Italy) in 2007. It recalls the principal reasons for central bank involvement in the compilation of statistics on wealth, looks at the Bank of Italy's experience in this specific field, provides a brief synopsis of the research to date and compares the new estimates with those previously available. The final section provides some thoughts on the future direction of the research.Households, Wealth, Saving

"Household Wealth Distribution in Italy in the 1990s"

This paper describes the composition and distribution of household wealth in Italy. First, the evolution of household portfolios over the last 40 years is described on the basis of newly reconstructed aggregate balance sheets. Second, the characteristics and quality of the main statistical source on wealth distribution, the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth, are examined together with the statistical procedures used to adjust for nonresponse, nonreporting and underreporting. The distribution of household net worth is then studied using both adjusted and unadjusted data. Wealth inequality is found to have risen steadily during the 1990s. The increased concentration of financial wealth was an important factor in determining this path.

Household Wealth Distribution in Italy in the 1990s

This paper describes the composition and distribution of household wealth in Italy. First, the evolution of household portfolios over the last forty years is described on the basis of newly reconstructed aggregate balance sheets. Second, the characteristics and quality of the main statistical source on wealth distribution, the Bank of ItalyÂ’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth, are examined together with the statistical procedures used to adjust for non-response, non-reporting and under-reporting. The distribution of household net worth is then studied using both adjusted and unadjusted data. Wealth inequality is found to have risen steadily during the 1990s. The increased concentration of financial wealth was an important factor in determining this path.household wealth, wealth inequality, Italy

La distribuzione del reddito e della ricchezza nelle regioni italiane

Information from the Survey of Italian Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) is not normally used as a basis for regional estimates on account of the small sample size. This paper presents an experimental estimation of regional aggregates for the period 1995-2000, obtained by combining several surveys. The variability of estimates is reduced not only by means of a wider sample but also through estimators that limit the impact of extreme values and merge survey data with external sources. The results confirm the traditional scenario: northern and central regions show greater average values for both income and wealth than their southern counterparts. Concentration of the two variables appears greater in the South, less in the North and even less in the Centre: therefore if measured with the Sen welfare index, which simultaneously considers average equivalent income and a distributional index, the gap between southern regions and northern and central ones grows even larger. The difference in the social and demographic composition of the population explains a significant share of the disparity in mean incomes between regions and helps to shed light on inequality within regions as well; the effects vary according to the region and the variable. However, these features appear to influence nation-wide inequality only to a moderate degree.Income, Wealth, Inequality

Consumer price levels in Northern and Southern Italy

This paper provides a detailed insight into the magnitude of price-level differentials among Italian regions, supplementing the data collected by Istat with information on house prices and rentals collected by Agenzia del Territorio and by the Bank of Italy and with estimates from other sources. Results show that prices are lower in southern Italy than in other areas. The most reliable estimate gives a differential of 16/17 per cent. This spread is due mainly (i.e. more than two-thirds) to different levels of house prices, which include imputed rentals. If only effective rentals are considered, the spread decreases to 10 per cent. Noteworthy differentials can be also found within macro-areas, although on a smaller scale, signalling the potential relevance of regional and local factors in determining the price level of some goods and services.Urban economics,Regional studies

The opinion of Italians on tax evasion

In this paper we use data from the Bank of ItalyÂ’s Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) to study what Italian households think of tax evasion, and to estimate their propensity to evade taxes. This propensity turns out to be larger for the self-employed than for employees; within the group of employees, the propensity is higher for blue-collar workers than for white-collars workers. The propensity decreases with both education and age; it is higher in provincial capitals with higher unemployment and crime rates, and where social capital and the quality of public services are lower. The aversion to tax evasion turns out to be quite low across all social classes; this result suggests that mechanisms of general reprobation have a modest role in hampering tax evasion. Comparing SHIW data with those collected through a similar survey carried out by the Ministry of Finance, we find that the propensity to evade taxes has increased from 1992 to 2004.Tax evasion, Social norms, social capital

La bilancia dei pagamenti di parte corrente Nord-Sud (1998-2000)

In this paper we estimate the current account of the balance of payments of ItalyÂ’s Southern and Northern regions for the period 1998-2000. In our scheme the General Government is considered as a non-resident institution; fiscal revenues and expenditure generate credits and debts in the balances of payments of the South and the North. We find that the wide deficit on goods and services of the Southern regions - as estimated by the Regional Accounts - is counterbalanced by income and transfers of the same order of magnitude, mostly originated by the re-distributive activity of General Government. A large part of this re-distribution depends on personal income inequality, even if it has distinguishing territorial marks because of smaller employment rates and the concentration of lower income households in the less developed regions. The re-distribution increases disposable income in Southern regions, raising consumption expenditure and investment. Over the years the Southern deficit on goods and services has markedly shrunk; the reduction is correlated with the slowdown in the rate of capital accumulation. The balance of the current account of Southern regions, though subject to measurement errors, turns out to be nearly zero in the examined period. Thus, net financial inflows or outflows should be of limited amount.bilancia dei pagamenti, Mezzogiorno

Banks, local credit markets and credit supply

The volume collects the papers presented at the Conference on "Banks, Local Credit Markets and Credit Supply" held in Milan, on 24 March 2010. The papers presented at the two sessions of the Conference analyse how banks' lending activities are organized and how this affects the supply of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The first session focuses on new lending technologies and banking organization. The second session studies how these organizational variables affect the lending activity to SMEs. The papers draw on the results of a sample survey of more than 300 Italian banks conducted by the Bank of Italy in 2007.banking organization, credit scoring, relationship lending, soft information

What policies do we need for Southern Italy? The role of national and regional policies in the last decade

In this paper we examine the Italian regional policies launched in the second half of the 1990s and aimed at promoting the development of Southern Italy. Ten years on, the goals have not been reached, either in terms of social and economic development, or of the performance of firms receiving government aid. In evaluating the discrepancy between targets and results we argue that the failure of regional policies is a facet of the more general failure of Italian economic policies in the last fifteen years, clearly witnessed by the stagnation of growth and productivity both in the North and Centre and in the South. Two main aspects are highlighted: the effectiveness of regional policies has been affected by national legal rules that have had different effects across regions and have usually allowed a lower quality of public expenditure in the South; the effectiveness of regional policies has been diminished also by attributing importance to regional governments as control centres of public intervention.regional policies, regional development, cohesion