Development Policy, Public Spending and Regional Convergence in Italy (1996-2007)

The objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it offers some empirical evidence on the evolution of regional disparities in Italy in the light of recent development policies. Secondly, the paper focuses on the role of public spending in the convergence process. This analysis is based on a detailed dataset that offers data for different categories of public expenditure flows at the regional level for the years 1996-2007. Regression analysis shows how the impact of public spending on growth differs, dependent upon the regions and the categories of expenditure. When the entire sample is considered, a positive relationship between current expenditure and productivity growth is found. If the sample is split into Northern and Southern regions, the estimates lead to different results. In the first group, composed of the most developed Italian regions, results show a positive and significant correlation between capital public expenditure and growth, while in the less developed Southern regions productivity growth results as only weakly linked to current expenditure.