Measuring the Results of Public Intervention: Data for Evaluating the Territorial Impact of Policy

<em>Measuring the Results of Public Intervention: Data for Evaluating the Territorial Impact of Policy</em> (di Simona De Luca, Federico Nusperli, Antonio Sferrazzo, Alessandra Tancredi, Mariella Volpe) - ABSTRACT: Simona De Luca, Federico Nusperli, Antonio Sferrazzo, Alessandra Tancredi and Mariella Volpe Department for Development Policies Ministry for Economic Development (MISE)* (Paper first received, January 2006; in final form, December 2006) Abstract In recent years, capital expenditure in the South of Italy has been increased in pursuit of the goal of fostering development, but it has exhibited an unbalanced proportion of resources devoted to transfers. Measuring the results of public intervention enables evaluation of how much it has really increased in line with the policy objective, and how much investments are narrowing the disparities. Drawing on the wealth of information available from the Department for Development Policies’ database on the Regional Public Accounts (RPA), which measures public financial flows on the wider public sector at the territorial level, the paper analyses spending by region, level of government, sector, and economic category.