Net fiscal flows and interregional redistribution in Italy: A long-run perspective (1951–2010)

•This paper provides a reconstruction of a discontinuous time series of net fiscal flows for Italian regions and macro-regions from 1951 to 2010.•Redistribution in favor of Southern Italy has been significant and increasing up to the end of the 1990s.•In the period 1951–2010 interregional redistribution in Italy cannot be judged disproportionately large.•The relationship between the intensity of interregional redistribution and the financial effort of regional policies is weak.•Increasing NFFs have little served the purpose of regional convergence.

This paper carries out a long-run reconstruction of a discontinuous time series of net fiscal flows for Italian regions and macro-regions from 1951 to 2010. This evidence is the basis to put forward an assessment on the intensity of interregional redistribution operated by public sector. The main result of the paper is that even if the amount of resources transferred to Southern Italy from the rest of the country has been significant and increasing over time (at least up to the end of the 1990s), redistribution cannot be judged disproportionately large, in the light of income differences among regions, the public commitment in regional policies and the constitutional principles of equal access of citizens to the basic public services. Secondly, historical analysis of data and inspection of facts indicate that the relationship between the intensity of interregional redistribution and the financial effort of regional policies is weak. This supports the view that increasing NFFs have little served the purpose of regional convergence; rather, the rise of imbalances seems to be mainly connected to the overall escalation of public expenditure, following the institutional break occurred in mid-1970s with the establishment of Regional Governments.