The Italian Social Protection System: The Poverty of Welfare
May 1, 1998
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Summary
Italy’s system of social protection has come under criticism for being fragmented and excessively skewed toward pensioners and “insiders.” After setting up a consolidated presentation of the social security accounts, this paper provides an empirical assessment of the effectiveness of the welfare system, relying on a survey of households’ incomes and wealth. It concludes that, owing to ill-designed targeting mechanisms, less than a quarter of total spending on the welfare instruments under review accrues to families whose own resources fall short of the poverty line. The paper then proposes a new means-testing formula.
Subject: Aging, Expenditure, Income, Labor, National accounts, Pension spending, Pensions, Personal income, Population and demographics
Keywords: Aging, benchmark system, early retirement, guarantee scheme, Income, labor market, means-testing formula, Northern Europe, pension regime, Pension spending, pension system, Pensions, Personal income, poverty line, seniority pension, social insurance, Social protection, social security, unemployment compensation, vertical and horizontal efficiency, WP
Pages:
50
Volume:
1998
DOI:
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Issue:
074
Series:
Working Paper No. 1998/074
Stock No:
WPIEA0741998
ISBN:
9781451849561
ISSN:
1018-5941
