"Urbanization and Decentralization: The changing urban-rural linkages and opportunities of decentralization of services" Joachim von Braun, Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn, Germany This paper explores the relations between urbanization and decentralization. Ever stronger...

In the past two decades Italian regions have gained autonomy in managingpublic expenditure, while their political system was reformed. In order to explainthe persistence of the gap between North and South in relation to the quality ofpublic services, literature has returned to focus on social...

This essay attempts to reconstruct the way in which the Italian WelfareState has changed over time. In the last two decades the transformations in socialpolicies have radically reshaped the pension system, labour market policies, education,health and social care. The four main results of the...