Regulatory Reforms In Italy

This title was first published in 2001. The question this thesis attempts to answer is summarized as follows: what accounts for the amazing stability of Italian transport policy in the face of European challenges, given the fact that - as most national and European policy-makers readily believe - it is not capable of addressing the problem of the sector? This study analyzes the transport policy in Italy from the 1990s into the 21st century. It looks at how the two sub-sectors of surface transport, road haulage and raliways, have been managed by the public and private actors involved. In both sectors the policy appears to have failed, either by not offering a remedy to problems or by aggravating them further. The author believes that studying transport policy in Italy will shed light on the wider question of how national policy-making patterns are influenced by developments in the international environment; in this case looking closely at the influence of the European Union.

The paper summarizes the framework used in a research project on local public services carried out by Bank of Italy researchers. It discusses motivations, characteristics, results and general lessons of the project, whose sector-specific results are detailed in individual papers. The project was set up to analyze the effectiveness and outcomes of a set of reforms initiated approximately 15 years ago (but still unfinished in many respects). Studies of specific economically important and socially sensitive sectors were performed, to obtain an updated picture of the current framework (ownership structure, role of local authorities) and evaluate performance (market structure, costs and quality, profitability, environmental results). A set of horizontal studies (on the evolution of regulation, the spread of project financing, the growth of some large players) complemented the sectoral analyses. As a whole the project confirmed that the results of the reforms have been unsatisfactory. The paper also discusses some characteristics of the regulatory framework and market structures that could explain the reforms' poor results: a) insufficient attention to sectoral peculiarities in the regulatory design; b) the approach used in determining tariffs that should have covered full costs; c) excessively fragmented regulatory authorities, which were set up at too local a level; d) insufficient separation between the different roles played by local authorities as regulators, majority shareholders of service providers and representatives of consumers' interests.

This review analyses the institutional set-up for multi-level regulation, the specifics of power sharing between the State and the regions, as well as the horizontal and vertical co-ordination mechanisms in place in the country, before turning to their use in the four specific regions.

The reform of the Italian public administration has been a priority for at least two decades, with several major initiatives undertaken toward modernization and simplification. Notwithstanding laudable intentions, however, progress remains limited. This analysis is a case study of two reforms since 2016—on the rationalization of state-owned enterprises and of public procurement. It finds that original reform provisions were weakened or overturned, regulatory complexity and uncertainties in the application of the reforms blunted their impact, and enforcement mechanisms were inadequate. Addressing these gaps will be essential for successfully modernizing Italy’s public administration.

OECD's 2001 review of regulatory reform in Italy.

This review of regulatory reform in Italy presents a general picture of the overall regulatory reform frameworks in Italy, examining quality regulation, competition policy and professional services. The review also offers a special focus on multi-level governance.

The essays in this volume provide a systematic analysis of the contemporary means of regulation employed in a range of economic and social policy areas in Italy.