Does regional cost-of-living reshuffle Italian income distribution?

Abstract

This paper examines how spatial price differentials affect income distribution in Italy. The distribution of household income is “reshuffled” after controlling for the purchasing power of households residents in different regions, but only when housing price variations are included in the PPP index. Poor households living in Southern Italy alleviate their relative condition, but concentration of poverty still holds in the Southern part of the country.Income distribution, inequality, regional purchasing power parity, Italy.