Redistribution Through Public Employment: The Case of Italy

Alberto Alesina, Stephan Danninger, Massimo Rostagno

NBER Working Paper No. 7387
Issued in October 1999
NBER Program(s):Public Economics Program

This paper examines the regional distribution of public employment in Italy. It documents two sets of facts. This first is the use of public employment as a subsidy from the North to the less wealthy South. We calculate that about half of the wage bill in the South of Italy can be identified as a subsidy. Both the size of public employment and the level of wages are used as a redistributive device. The second set of facts concerns the effects of a subsidized public employment on individuals' attitudes toward job search, education, 'risk taking' activities etc. Public employment discourages the development of market activities in the South.

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w7387

Published: Albert Alesina & Stephan Danninger & Massimo Rostagno, 2001. "Redistribution Through Public Employment: The Case of Italy," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 2. citation courtesy of

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