Matteo Jessoula
Biographic Data
| ID | 4075317 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matteo Jessoula |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matteo |
| FAMILY NAME | Jessoula |
| SIGNATURE | JESSOULA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Milan |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9022-1434 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Boosting Fiscal–Occupational Welfare in Italy: ‘Quiet Politics’ and the Irresistible Attractiveness of (Micro‐)Distributive Policies
Fiscal–occupational welfare is becoming an increasingly important feature of social protection systems and state–business relations in Europe, reflecting a broader trend towards outsourcing public functions to private actors. In Italy, the 2016 and 2017 Stability Laws significantly expanded its scope and relevance. This article examines the political dynamics that facilitate the adoption of these distinctive forms of social policy and shape their…
Neoliberal reforms, Great Recession and political backlash: Parties, groups and voters in the new politics of welfare in Italy
When observed in comparative perspective, until the early-1990s the Italian welfare state was clearly an outlier, characterized by an unbalanced allocation of resources among welfare sectors (so-called functional distortion) and towards social groups (distributive distortion). Since then, however, profound transformations have affected both the institutional architecture and the distributive profile of the Italian welfare state. Through an in-dep…
Southern European Welfare Systems in Transition
This chapter examines the idea that a distinct Southern European welfare model exists within European social protection systems. It focuses on the core social protection pillars: pensions, labor market policies, social assistance, health care, social care, and family policies. The chapter looks at the reforms in welfare systems in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece. In the early 1980s, Portugal and Greece still presented an underdeveloped social …
Exclusionary welfarism: A New Programmatic Agenda for Populist Right-Wing Parties
This article introduces a novel analytical framework to compare the changing positions of five populist right-wing parties in the field of welfare policies. Results outline that a novel programmatic approach on the socio economic dimension materialised, which clearly departs from traditional right wing ideologies. We call it 'exclusionary welfarism', characterised by (i) high salience of welfare issues, (ii) strong support for welfare state expan…
Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper‐politicization
Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti‐poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship In…
Children against parents? The politics of intergenerational recalibration in Southern Europe
Traditionally, Southern European countries displayed remarkably elderly biased social policy arrangements. This article introduces the notion of intergenerational recalibration to capture reforms aimed at rebalancing the generational profile of Southern European welfare states via the expansion of family policy and social assistance schemes—both monetary benefits and care services—and retrenchment in the field of pensions. Then, it elaborates the…
Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion in the EU: A Chance in Europe 2020
The right(s) and minimum income in hard times: Southern and Eastern Europe compared
The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes’ reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased …
Europe 2020 and the Fight against Poverty – Beyond Competence Clash, Towards ‘Hybrid’ Governance Solutions
The supranational strategy ‘ E urope 2020’ came along with two main innovations for social policy coordination in the EU : a quantified poverty reduction target and a new governance framework – the ‘ E uropean S emester’. Aiming to assess the effectiveness of the novel strategy in prompting the emergence of a E uropean(‐ized) anti‐poverty arena – thus inherently multilevel and multi‐stakeholder, as well as integrated (across policy sectors) – the…
Understanding convergence and divergence: Old and new cleavages in the politics of minimum income schemes in Italy and Poland
Italy and Poland present similarly weak minimum income protection models, yet this results from two different policy trajectories in the last 15 years: both countries actually introduced a minimum income scheme (MIS) between the late 1990s (Italy) and the early 2000s (Poland), but later developments were characterized by policy reversal in the Italian case vis-à-vis institutionalization in Poland. The paper therefore addresses two intertwined puz…
Sauvé par l’Europe, piégé par l’Europe: Les réformes de l’État-providence italien (1992-2012)
Marquées par l’empreinte Bismarckienne et les spécificités typiques de l’Europe du Sud du régime d’État providence italien, les politiques sociales et les politiques d’emploi italiennes ont traditionnellement connu un écart avec la politique sociale européenne émergente. Au cours des deux dernières décennies, des pressions adaptatives importantes ont conduit à l’adoption de différentes réformes incitées par des « contraintes externes », en partic…
Labour Market Flexibility and Pension Reforms: Flexible Today, Secure Tomorrow?
Increasingly flexible labour markets and reforms of old-age pension systems are still ranking high on the political agenda of European countries. This volume investigates whether, and to what extent
‘Eppur si muoveva…’ The Italian Trajectory of Recent Welfare Reforms: From ‘Rescued by Europe’ to Euro-scepticism
The Italian welfare state is generally classified as either an example of the continental or Bismarckian welfare regime (Esping-Andersen, 1990) or, adopting other conceptual lenses, a representative of the Southern European welfare state family (Ferrera, 1996). Since the “golden decades” of welfare state expansion (roughly 1950s–70s), the Italian welfare state configuration has been characterized by the predominance of the male breadwinner model,…
Italy: An Uncompleted Departure from Bismarck
The Italian welfare system emerged under two different political regimes: the competitive, Liberal regime from the country unification (1861) to 1922, and the Fascist regime (1922-1943). The profound variation of the political background, however, did not have a decisive impact on the institutional traits of social protection schemes that from its inception displayed a Bismarckian imprint. They were in fact built along occupational lines – aiming…
Selective Flexicurity' in Segmented Labour Markets: The Case of Italian 'Mid-Siders
The article is focused on the analysis of flexicurity arrangements in the Italian case with a twofold aim. The first aim is substantive: analysing and evaluating recent labour market reforms in Italy with particular reference to the possible emergence of a new flexicurity model. The second goal is to contribute to the debate on labour market development and flexicurity by enriching and refining the available analytical tools. More specifically, w…
Selective Flexicurity' in Segmented Labour Markets: The Case of Italian 'Mid-Siders
The article is focused on the analysis of flexicurity arrangements in the Italian case with a twofold aim. The first aim is substantive: analysing and evaluating recent labour market reforms in Italy with particular reference to the possible emergence of a new flexicurity model. The second goal is to contribute to the debate on labour market development and flexicurity by enriching and refining the available analytical tools. More specifically, w…
Understanding convergence and divergence: Old and new cleavages in the politics of minimum income schemes in Italy and Poland
Italy and Poland present similarly weak minimum income protection models, yet this results from two different policy trajectories in the last 15 years: both countries actually introduced a minimum income scheme (MIS) between the late 1990s (Italy) and the early 2000s (Poland), but later developments were characterized by policy reversal in the Italian case vis-à-vis institutionalization in Poland. The paper therefore addresses two intertwined puz…
Exclusionary welfarism: A New Programmatic Agenda for Populist Right-Wing Parties
This article introduces a novel analytical framework to compare the changing positions of five populist right-wing parties in the field of welfare policies. Results outline that a novel programmatic approach on the socio economic dimension materialised, which clearly departs from traditional right wing ideologies. We call it 'exclusionary welfarism', characterised by (i) high salience of welfare issues, (ii) strong support for welfare state expan…
Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper‐politicization
Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti‐poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship In…
Europe 2020 and the Fight against Poverty – Beyond Competence Clash, Towards ‘Hybrid’ Governance Solutions
The supranational strategy ‘ E urope 2020’ came along with two main innovations for social policy coordination in the EU : a quantified poverty reduction target and a new governance framework – the ‘ E uropean S emester’. Aiming to assess the effectiveness of the novel strategy in prompting the emergence of a E uropean(‐ized) anti‐poverty arena – thus inherently multilevel and multi‐stakeholder, as well as integrated (across policy sectors) – the…
The right(s) and minimum income in hard times: Southern and Eastern Europe compared
The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes’ reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased …
Children against parents? The politics of intergenerational recalibration in Southern Europe
Traditionally, Southern European countries displayed remarkably elderly biased social policy arrangements. This article introduces the notion of intergenerational recalibration to capture reforms aimed at rebalancing the generational profile of Southern European welfare states via the expansion of family policy and social assistance schemes—both monetary benefits and care services—and retrenchment in the field of pensions. Then, it elaborates the…
Italy: An Uncompleted Departure from Bismarck
The Italian welfare system emerged under two different political regimes: the competitive, Liberal regime from the country unification (1861) to 1922, and the Fascist regime (1922-1943). The profound variation of the political background, however, did not have a decisive impact on the institutional traits of social protection schemes that from its inception displayed a Bismarckian imprint. They were in fact built along occupational lines – aiming…
Selective Flexicurity' in Segmented Labour Markets: The Case of Italian 'Mid-Siders
The article is focused on the analysis of flexicurity arrangements in the Italian case with a twofold aim. The first aim is substantive: analysing and evaluating recent labour market reforms in Italy with particular reference to the possible emergence of a new flexicurity model. The second goal is to contribute to the debate on labour market development and flexicurity by enriching and refining the available analytical tools. More specifically, w…
‘Eppur si muoveva…’ The Italian Trajectory of Recent Welfare Reforms: From ‘Rescued by Europe’ to Euro-scepticism
The Italian welfare state is generally classified as either an example of the continental or Bismarckian welfare regime (Esping-Andersen, 1990) or, adopting other conceptual lenses, a representative of the Southern European welfare state family (Ferrera, 1996). Since the “golden decades” of welfare state expansion (roughly 1950s–70s), the Italian welfare state configuration has been characterized by the predominance of the male breadwinner model,…
Labour Market Flexibility and Pension Reforms: Flexible Today, Secure Tomorrow?
Increasingly flexible labour markets and reforms of old-age pension systems are still ranking high on the political agenda of European countries. This volume investigates whether, and to what extent
Sauvé par l’Europe, piégé par l’Europe: Les réformes de l’État-providence italien (1992-2012)
Marquées par l’empreinte Bismarckienne et les spécificités typiques de l’Europe du Sud du régime d’État providence italien, les politiques sociales et les politiques d’emploi italiennes ont traditionnellement connu un écart avec la politique sociale européenne émergente. Au cours des deux dernières décennies, des pressions adaptatives importantes ont conduit à l’adoption de différentes réformes incitées par des « contraintes externes », en partic…
Understanding convergence and divergence: Old and new cleavages in the politics of minimum income schemes in Italy and Poland
Italy and Poland present similarly weak minimum income protection models, yet this results from two different policy trajectories in the last 15 years: both countries actually introduced a minimum income scheme (MIS) between the late 1990s (Italy) and the early 2000s (Poland), but later developments were characterized by policy reversal in the Italian case vis-à-vis institutionalization in Poland. The paper therefore addresses two intertwined puz…
Europe 2020 and the Fight against Poverty – Beyond Competence Clash, Towards ‘Hybrid’ Governance Solutions
The supranational strategy ‘ E urope 2020’ came along with two main innovations for social policy coordination in the EU : a quantified poverty reduction target and a new governance framework – the ‘ E uropean S emester’. Aiming to assess the effectiveness of the novel strategy in prompting the emergence of a E uropean(‐ized) anti‐poverty arena – thus inherently multilevel and multi‐stakeholder, as well as integrated (across policy sectors) – the…
Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion in the EU: A Chance in Europe 2020
The right(s) and minimum income in hard times: Southern and Eastern Europe compared
The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes’ reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased …
Children against parents? The politics of intergenerational recalibration in Southern Europe
Traditionally, Southern European countries displayed remarkably elderly biased social policy arrangements. This article introduces the notion of intergenerational recalibration to capture reforms aimed at rebalancing the generational profile of Southern European welfare states via the expansion of family policy and social assistance schemes—both monetary benefits and care services—and retrenchment in the field of pensions. Then, it elaborates the…
Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper‐politicization
Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti‐poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship In…
Southern European Welfare Systems in Transition
This chapter examines the idea that a distinct Southern European welfare model exists within European social protection systems. It focuses on the core social protection pillars: pensions, labor market policies, social assistance, health care, social care, and family policies. The chapter looks at the reforms in welfare systems in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece. In the early 1980s, Portugal and Greece still presented an underdeveloped social …
Exclusionary welfarism: A New Programmatic Agenda for Populist Right-Wing Parties
This article introduces a novel analytical framework to compare the changing positions of five populist right-wing parties in the field of welfare policies. Results outline that a novel programmatic approach on the socio economic dimension materialised, which clearly departs from traditional right wing ideologies. We call it 'exclusionary welfarism', characterised by (i) high salience of welfare issues, (ii) strong support for welfare state expan…
Neoliberal reforms, Great Recession and political backlash: Parties, groups and voters in the new politics of welfare in Italy
When observed in comparative perspective, until the early-1990s the Italian welfare state was clearly an outlier, characterized by an unbalanced allocation of resources among welfare sectors (so-called functional distortion) and towards social groups (distributive distortion). Since then, however, profound transformations have affected both the institutional architecture and the distributive profile of the Italian welfare state. Through an in-dep…
Boosting Fiscal–Occupational Welfare in Italy: ‘Quiet Politics’ and the Irresistible Attractiveness of (Micro‐)Distributive Policies
Fiscal–occupational welfare is becoming an increasingly important feature of social protection systems and state–business relations in Europe, reflecting a broader trend towards outsourcing public functions to private actors. In Italy, the 2016 and 2017 Stability Laws significantly expanded its scope and relevance. This article examines the political dynamics that facilitate the adoption of these distinctive forms of social policy and shape their…
Social Policy and Reform Studies (15 works) · Economics (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Welfare (7 works) · Welfare state (7 works) · Development economics (5 works) · Economic growth (5 works)