Italian Policy Makers Research Articles

Genuine commitment or search for prestige? Italy’s ambiguous foreign policy discourse on human rights

ABSTRACT This article seeks to question the self-proclaimed commitment of Italy as a human rights champion in international politics. More specifically, analysing the content and scope of Italian policymakers’ discourse, the paper aims to grasp whether, how and to what extent human rights (really) matter in the definition of the country’s foreign policy. The paper argues that human rights are a constant component in the foreign policy discourse of Italy over time, shared by policymakers of all political persuasions However, Italy’s commitment on these matters follows a particularly fluctuating and inconsistent path in terms of both its assertiveness and level of elaboration, which is the result of a continued confrontation between, on one hand, a committed ideational promotion of human rights by part of Italian foreign policymakers, rooted in a widespread conception of the country’s historical and ‘civilisational’ proclivity to these values and, on the other, the understanding of human rights as a strategic area of ‘niche diplomacy’ which could be helpful to boost the country’s international prestige.

An unintended consequence of COVID-19 immunity passports-quasi-experimental evidence of moral hazard observed after implementing the domestic Green Pass policy during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Amidst the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Italian policymakers mandated to exhibit evidence of vaccination or immunity (the Green Pass) as a condition to access retail premises and public offices. This study aims to offer evidence, in a quasi-experimental setting, suggesting that an unintended consequence of this policy was the emergence of moral hazard. Google visit duration data measured the time customers typically spend on retail premises or public offices. A pairwise comparison of median visit time per premise was performed at a six-week interval before and after the introduction of the Green Pass. This study is the first to provide evidence of "ex-post" moral hazard associated with introducing a domestic Green Pass policy. The median visiting time on premises that required digital immunity control significantly increased after introducing the domestic Green Pass policy, contrary to other public premises where access remained free of limitations. The increase in median visit time in premises with faster customer turnaround, such as coffee shops (+49%) and fast-food restaurants (+45%), was lower than the increase observed for fine-dining restaurants (+74%) and pizzerias (+163%). No significant increase in median visit time was observed in premises where the Green Pass was not required, such as food supermarkets, retail non-food shops, post offices, banks, pharmacies, and gas stations. The evidence of moral hazard highlights the critical issue of unintended consequences stemming from public health policies. This discovery is pivotal for policymakers, indicating that unforeseen behavioral adjustments could offset the intended benefits despite the intent to reduce risk through measures like the Green Pass.

Trick or treaty? An empirical analysis of the treaty ratification process in Italy

Treaties are a fundamental tool of international politics. Therefore, existing literature has long investigated their ratification, the act through which an actor commits itself to the treaty’s content and its determinants. However, we believe this scholarship has three substantial limitations: a lack of comprehensive assessments of the differences between bilateral and multilateral treaties, a limited attention to small and middle powers, and a substantial neglect of the impact of cabinet ideology. We address these gaps by exploring the dynamics of treaty ratification in Italy. Our analysis covers all the treaties signed and ratified by Italian policymakers between 1994 and 2022 that underwent parliamentary approval. We find that multilateral treaties take, on average, more time to get ratified than bilateral ones. Treaties regarding areas such as environment and human rights are also subject to longer ratification processes. The presence of left-wing cabinet coalitions tends to increase the likelihood of ratification. Through these findings, the article contributes to the understanding of treaty commitment in middle powers. It also provides an innovative point of view in the debate on Italian foreign policy and its domestic drivers.

Measuring Social Inclusion in Europe: a non-additive approach with the expert-preferences of public policy planners.

This paper introduces a normative, expert-informed, time-dependent index of Social Inclusion for European administrative regions in five countries, using longitudinal data from Eurostat. Our contribution is twofold: first, our indicator is based on a non-additive aggregation operator (the Choquet Integral), which allows us to model many preferences' structures and to overcome the limitations embedded in other approaches. Second, we elicit the parameters of the aggregation operator from an expert panel of Italian policymakers in Social Policy, and Economics scholars. Our results highlight that Mediterranean countries exhibit lower Inclusion levels than Northern/Central countries, and that this disparity has grown in the last decade. Our results complement and partially challenge existing evidence from data-driven aggregation methods.

Happiness and Socio-Demographic Factors in an Italian Sample: A Propensity-Matched Study.

Happiness is receiving more and more interest both as a determinant of health and a measure of outcome in biomedical and psychological sciences. The main objective of this study was to assess how the levels of happiness vary in a large sample of Italian adults and to identify the socio-demographic conditions which impair happiness domains the most. The participants of this survey consisted of 1695 Italian adults (85.9% women; 14.1% men) who completed the Measure of Happiness (MH) questionnaire online. In this study, the differences between groups in total and single domain (life perspective, psychophysical status, socio-relational sphere, relational private sphere, and financial status) happiness levels were examined through a propensity score matching analysis with respect to socio-demographic conditions, including gender, age, annual income, relationship status, having children, and education level. The results show that low income has a negative impact on happiness levels, whereas being in a relationship has a positive effect. Having children appears to have a negative impact on male happiness. Males appear to be happier than females, especially with regard to the psychophysics status. This evidence emphasizes the urgency for Italian policymakers to take actions on removing obstacles to people's happiness, especially with regard to financial distress, parenthood, and gender gaps.

The added value of applying a disinvestment approach to the process of health technology assessment in Italy.

The objective of the present policy analysis was to understand how a disinvestment approach to the process of health technology assessment (HTA), applied to the field of medical devices, might help Italian policymakers to properly spend the resources in healthcare. Previous international and national experiences in disinvestment for medical devices were reviewed. Precious insights for the rational expenditure of the resources were derived by assessing the evidence available. The disinvestment of ineffective or inappropriate technologies or interventions with an inadequate value-for-money ratio has become a growing priority for National Health Systems. Different international disinvestment experiences of medical devices were identified and described through a rapid review. Although most of them have a strong theoretical framework, their practical application remains difficult. In Italy, there are no examples of large and complex HTA-based disinvestment practices, but their importance is becoming increasingly acknowledged, especially given the need to prioritize the funds provided by Recovery and Resilience Plan. Anchoring decisions on health technologies without reassessing the current technological landscape through a robust HTA model might expose to the risk of not ensuring the best employment of the resources available. Thus, it is necessary to develop a strong HTA ecosystem in Italy through adequate consultation with stakeholders to enable a data-driven and evidence-based prioritization of resources toward choices characterized by high value for both patients and society as a whole.

Entrepreneurial team heterogeneity and performance of academic spin-offs: a pre and postfoundation analysis

ABSTRACT The present research identifies the drivers of the growth of academic spin-offs (ASOs). Empirical studies have found few successful cases of ASOs from a firm-level perspective; many companies fail, and others tend to remain small without making a meaningful contribution to local economic development. Consequently, analysing the factors affecting spin-off growth is important to understand their potential benefits for society. A large portion of studies focus on external drivers of ASO growth, while we concentrate on the internal dimension, analysing the effect of the heterogeneity of entrepreneurial teams on the performance of ASOs from a longitudinal perspective. Our paper investigates how ASO entrepreneurial team heterogeneity, both horizontal (cognitive) and vertical (status), and changes in entrepreneurial team heterogeneity between the prefoundation and postfoundation stages affect ASO performance. The results show that vertical heterogeneity in the composition of the prefoundation team is a driver of ASO performance over a shorter time horizon (one year) and more so if the average seniority of academics is low. Horizontal heterogeneity plays a negative moderating role. However, longer-term performance is more influenced by horizontal heterogeneity, implying slower growth after the spin-off foundation. These findings should provide important insights for both managers and Italian policy-makers.

A Model for Directing and Modulating Public Interventions in Social Enterprises

Abstract The world is no stranger to crises, and social enterprises struggle to both survive and deliver on mission. This study explores how public interventions can facilitate economic recovery through targeted assistance to social enterprises, specifically the Italian social cooperative. Despite their prevalence and beneficial impact on Italian communities, not all Italian social cooperatives are economically and/or financially healthy. So this study answers the following two research questions: what is the financial and economic condition of Italian social cooperatives, and how could scarce public resources be directed to social enterprises in order to further the goals of social policy? To assess financial and economic health, we conduct financial statement analysis based on data extracted from the AIDA database. This methodology makes it possible to analyze Italian social cooperatives with techniques designed to monitor the situation in terms of both financial balance (current ratio, warranty ratio, and equity multiplier) and of economic balance (ROA, ROI, and sustainability of financial charges). Using these ratios, we create a matrix of financial and economic health and then provide guidance on which level of public support in each classification is likely to provide the most overall societal benefit. Such analysis offers not only benefits to Italian policymakers and citizens, but is a topic of particular interest for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the world evaluating policy responses to crises such as COVID-19.

European fiscal reform preferences of parliamentarians in France, Germany and Italy

Using data from a unique survey of members of parliaments in France, Germany and Italy in 2018, we estimate the effects of three dimensions on EU and Euro Area fiscal reform preferences: nationality, political ideology and populism. We predict and confirm that a German populist party on the right is most opposed to a more developed European fiscal union, while a non-populist politician on the political left in France or Italy is most integrationist. Furthermore, the relative position of French and Italian policymakers is issue dependent and the left dimension outweighs the German dimension in two out of seven reform issues. Finally, populism intensifies the polarizing impact of national interests.

Active Ageing in Italy: A Systematic Review of National and Regional Policies.

Active ageing is defined as the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. The design of active ageing policies intersects with different overarching societal challenges, especially ageing populations, social rights and sustainability. However, there are no previous attempts to review active ageing policies in the light of these challenges and the international policy objectives and targets that are guiding the international community. The aim of this study is to systematically identify, review and analyse all national and regional policies on active ageing adopted in Italy, by applying a conceptual framework derived from main international policy initiatives in the three areas. The research was conducted in two stages. First, a case study analysis was carried out per each relevant national institution and regional government. Standardised interviews were combined with policy document search, selection and analysis. Second, we performed a policy analysis in the light of a conceptual framework adopted. This latter was composed by nine policy domains, selected and integrated from principles and objectives of three overarching international frameworks on ageing—i.e., the Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS) commitments of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), social rights—i.e., the European Pillar of Social Rights and sustainability—i.e., the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Results pointed out that out of the identified nine policy fields, the major intervention areas by Italian policy makers concerned labour market participation, life-long learning, social and economic inequalities, health and well-being. Less attention had been given to issues such as gender and equal opportunities and sustainable cities. This systematic policy review is a milestone for understanding how active ageing policies contribute to address major societal challenges and what domains need further policy development.

(Un)welcome guests: Transnational video-on-demand and the new European works quotas in Italy

Programming and investment quotas in favour of ‘European works’ are an important element of the audiovisual ‘cultural policy toolkit’ in Europe. In reasserting their role, the revised 2018 Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) has updated these rules in response to the rise of transnational video-on-demand (VoD) services across the continent. This article examines why and how Italy embarked on a reform of its domestic regime on quotas in 2017, in parallel with the revision of the AVMSD. It shows that Italian policy-makers sought to adopt a system of quotas that was far more stringent than the one previously in force and that also departed from the EU approach in significant ways. The evidence presented here shows that while national broadcasters managed to get the government to water down its initial proposals, Netflix and the other VoD providers were not involved in the formal discussions with the government until at late stage and were unable to shape policy outcome to their advantage. We argue the Italian case is a prime example of the continued commitment to quotas as a core element of the audiovisual cultural policy toolkit seen across Europe.

New Public Management Reform ideas and the remaking of the Italian and Danish health systems

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of New Public Management (NPM) ideas in the reform of the Italian and Danish health systems. In particular, it investigates the arguments that have supported changes in their institutional and territorial dimensions. Whereas the institutional dimension is concerned with the allocation of authority between layers of government, the territorial dimension is related to the definition of the size of subnational governments. By adopting an argumentative approach to policy analysis and focusing on the role of ideas in policy formulation, the article shows how Italian and Danish policymakers have shaped the institutional and territorial changes that have taken place in their national health systems. Through document analysis and in-depth interviews with experts and decision-makers, we show that the relationship between changes in size and authority in relation to NPM ideas is not clear-cut. Whereas in Italy arguments about the need to change the allocation of authority were not tied to a discourse about the size of subnational governments and health agencies, in Denmark discourses about size and authority have run in parallel. The present study confirms previous findings and provides additional evidence suggesting that NPM ideas have spread widely through governments following a path of implementation that varies from one national context to another.

The Future of the European Fiscal Union: Survey Results from Members of National Parliaments in France, Italy and Germany

Using data from a unique survey of members of parliaments in France, Germany and Italy in 2018, we estimate the effects of three dimensions on EU and euro area fiscal reform preferences: nationality, political ideology, and populism. We predict and confirm that a German populist party on the right is most opposed to a more developed European fiscal union, while a non-populist politician on the political left in France or Italy is most integrationist. Furthermore, the relative position of French and Italian policymakers is issue dependent and the Left dimension outweighs the German dimension in two out of seven reform issues. Finally, populism intensifies the polarizing impact of national interests.

Barriers to the adoption of electric cars: Evidence from an Italian survey

Italy has a very low level of uptake of electric cars (ECs), equal to 0.6% for the year 2019, despite significant efforts put in place by policy makers to stimulate their use. This paper investigates the barriers to wider EC diffusion via a survey administered in 2019 to a representative sample (N = 870) of the Italian population. We discuss and rank the barriers, aggregate them via principal component analysis (PCA) on the basis of the polychoric correlation matrix, perform a cluster analysis and analyse the socio-economic determinants of the respondents. The findings of this paper suggest a series of improvements that could be made by various actors. To overcome the financial barriers to EC uptake, Italian policy makers should reinforce incentives at the national and local levels and car manufacturers should bring to the market cheaper ECs belonging to the A and B segments. The charging-related barriers require investments on fast charging stations along the main toll highways and a new regulation regarding multi-house dwellings. Finally, reliable and complete information is needed to enhance knowledge about the technological and environmental pros and cons of ECs.

The Political Debate on Climate Change in Italy: A Discourse Network Analysis

Climate change is considered by policymakers as one of the most pressing global issues of our time. International institutions and national governments are, to varying degrees, committed to tackling climate change, but it has only been possible to define a shared system of collective goals across countries through the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21). A growing interest in climate change policy has been present in the Italian political debate, yet we have little evidence regarding the nature of related climate change debates across Italian policymakers. By using Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) to investigate Italian policymakers’ discourses in the Chamber of Deputies during the 17th Italian Legislature (2013–2018), this study shows that debates on climate change-related strategies are largely unpolarized, except for certain issues, and that coalitions emerge over time around core strategies. Groups of policymakers with similar policy beliefs emerge independently from their political affiliations. Our analysis is thus the first to apply DNA to provide empirical evidence of the convergence across Italian policymakers and the potential for the bridging of political discourses on climate change.

Unholy Alliances: Disentangling the Economic Relations between Italy, the Holy See and the Ottoman Empire

After the Kingdom of Italy annexed Rome and its territories from the papacy in 1870, relations between Italy and the Holy See deteriorated steadily. Yet, while at the domestic level political tensions between the two persisted for years, a ‘cold’ alliance united them when it came to their financial interests in the Ottoman Empire. In this context, Italian foreign policy-makers saw the Holy See’s financial resources as a useful bridgehead to justify imperialist policies in the Ottoman lands, despite the general hostility towards such overtures in Ottoman governmental and diplomatic circles. The aim of this article is to understand this apparently ambivalent relationship between Italy and the Holy See through an analysis of their investment strategies in the Ottoman market. Unable to establish itself on the Italian peninsula, the ‘unholy alliance’ between Rome and the Papacy that materialised in the Ottoman Empire sharply illustrates how Italian and Papal financial and diplomatic elites could easily overcome political conflicts when these concerned investments in ‘peripheral’ territories where both parties had interests to defend.

Migration Crisis, Organised Crime and Domestic Politics in Italy: Unfolding the Interplay

ABSTRACT Focusing on Italy in the years of the ‘migration crisis’ between 2013 and 2017, this article explores how migration, crime groups and the domestic politics of migration control became entangled in times of crisis. Departing from previous theoretical discussions, it builds a framework that combines crime groups’ actions with domestic political processes in host countries and explores how the crime-migration nexus shaped – and was shaped by – Italian migration policymaking. The article contends that in the context of crisis the nexus took on new forms and that Italian migration politics and policies served to foster rather than counter the phenomenon, in a continuous interplay between criminal practices and policy choices.

Early COVID-19 pandemic response in Italy: Pros and cons

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy was one of the worst-affected European countries. The rapid surge of cases and the limited capacity of intensive care unit departments have posed a serious threat to the Italian national health system. In this paper we describe the first response and the main measures carried by Italian policy makers, as coordinated by a governmental committee of public health experts, which have succeeded in preventing the pandemic from turning into a disaster. Early closure of the school, quarantine measures and lockdown were put in place and the response of the population has been good overall. Despite the Italian health care system of universal coverage is considered the second-best in the world, during phase 1, the Italian decentralisation and fragmentation of health services probably restricted timely interventions and effectiveness. In northern Italy, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, and Veneto, which reported most of the Italian cases, carried out different strategies against COVID-19, with great differences in testing, quarantine, and public health procedures. The improvement of the epidemiological situation has allowed an easing of the restrictive measures, with a progressive restarting of work activities. The government and technical-scientific bodies have prepared health strategies to support a possible second epidemic wave in the autumn.

English

This study investigates the determinants of the corporate effective tax rate (ETR) of Italian private (unlisted) companies in 2016 and 2017. Although a large body of research has addressed the issue of the determinants of the ETR, both the Italian context and the private companies have been the object of scant attention in previous studies. To test research hypotheses, as in several previous studies, a pooled cross-sectional OLS model has been adopted. The study shows a statistically significant and negative (positive) association between ETR and firm size, investment in tangible fixed assets, inventories, investments in subsidiaries, affiliates and other companies, and the firm’s profitability (intangible fixed assets and the firm’s indebtedness). Conversely, it shows no statistically significant association between ETR and tangible fixed assets. The financial year in question, the region where companies are located, and the economic sector they belong to, included as control variables, affect the ETR. Italian public policy-makers and Italian and non-Italian economic operators can benefit from the results of the study in order to make more informed future decisions. Key words: Effective tax rate, private companies, Italy.

Economic stagnation and recession: the difficult Italian transition to the Monetary Union

ABSTRACTThe stagnation of the Italian economy since the mid-1990s can only be understood with reference to the great transformations that occurred in the previous two decades. This long interval was characterized by a process of rapid modernization and, also, by economic policy mismanagement. These changes generated an inefficient institutional model, a dysfunctional variant of the coordinated market economies of Continental Europe. In the mid-1990s Italian policymakers had to make painful and swift fiscal and institutional adjustments to correct economic imbalances and comply with the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty. These adjustments were, however, incomplete and did not solve the two most important problems that explain the fragility of the Italian economy in the financial crisis: stagnation of productivity and little internal adjustment (in terms of wage dynamics and reallocation of labour and capital across sectors and firms) to fend off the consequences of a loss of competitiveness in world markets.