The debate on progress in Italy is affected by the backwardness of the Mezzogiorno. The recent fiscal federalism reform hence raises new questions on how to attain more comparable living conditions for residents in regions that currently differ in levels of development and access to basic...

In the past decade, growing concern for fiscal developments and the performance of the public sector has urged several countries to make a closer link between government budgets and measurable indicators on the quantity and quality of services delivered and on their impact on socio-economic...