The Italian Welfare State (still) in Transition: the progressive recalibration of social programmes and greater flexibility of labour market policies

The Italian welfare state is the paradigmatic example of the South European model, with the following features: highly fragmented social protection schemes; a public health care system based on universal rights; transfer-heavy and service-light social programmes; some occupational categories (insiders) receive wide protection and security while other groups (outsiders) are under-protected; the porosity of the public administration to partisan interests is consistent with low effectiveness and major frauds and abuses. While our analysis confirms these key traits, there have been significant evolutions in the last two decades, suggesting the emergence of a new welfare configuration in Italy. These are consistent with the first (but still limited) recalibration of social spending, the greater flexibility of labour market policies and the decentralisation of competencies from central to regional and local government.