Agnese Sacchi
Biographic Data
| ID | 4385900 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Agnese Sacchi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Agnese |
| FAMILY NAME | Sacchi |
| SIGNATURE | SACCHI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Mercatorum University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7754-8360 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Demographics, political agenda and public budget
In ageing societies, the growing number of elderly citizens is expected to bias the allocation of public resources in their favour, as office-seeking politicians respond to electoral incentives. Yet, such a tendency is scarcely observable in the data for some European countries. This paper develops a theoretical model of electoral competition between two parties facing an electorate composed of young and old voters. A key feature of the model is …
Government Spending and Civic Engagement
This study offers causal evidence on how distinct forms of civic engagement affect government spending across 28 democracies between 2000 and 2024. Its main innovation lies in disentangling the fiscal effects of two channels of engagement—civil society participation and electoral turnout—through an original identification strategy that exploits exogenous variation in collective versus self‐interested motives. Our findings reveal that civic engage…
Does politics matter? A comparative assessment of discretionary fiscal policies in the euro area
When using discretionary fiscal policies in the countries belonging to the European Union, any change affecting the current fiscal stance must run into the boundary designed by fiscal rules. This would imply that discretionary fiscal policies - being mainly driven by the need to comply with fiscal rules - might be scarcely affected by politics and the political characteristics of a country. We empirically test this hypothesis on a sample of 19 Eu…
Citizens' attitudes towards climate mitigation policies
Climate protection is a global public good. The related mitigation policies implemented by a single country could have little effect on climate change issue such that there could be no net gains for society. However, those measures might create winners and losers among individuals. We investigate the citizens' support for different pro‐climate policies in EU countries, by considering the degree of heterogeneity in their attitudes towards climate …
Rational inattention and politics
Health spending in Italy
Asymmetric decentralization
This paper studies the interplay between central and local governments in defining the optimal degree of decentralization in terms of public goods supply. The choice between full centralization and asymmetric decentralization implies a trade-off between the possibility to provide public goods at a lower cost, wherever this is possible by decentralizing, and the possibility to fully internalize spillovers by full centralization. We find that asymm…
Fiscal stability during the Great Recession
This paper provides an empirical analysis aimed at disentangling the roles played by decentralization level and design as well as the extended decentralized framework provided by subnational borrowing rules and fiscal responsibility laws on a country’s fiscal stability. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ data from the period 1995–2014, strong regularities are found regarding the effects of decentralizat…
Who Honours the Rules of Federalism? Party System Nationalisation and Fiscal Performance
This article explores the impact of decentralisation on countries’ fiscal outcomes paying attention to one aspect usually neglected in the literature: the relevance of local politics, proxied by party system nationalisation. Based on a wide sample of developed and developing countries over the period 1970–2011, our findings are threefold. First, both fiscal and political decentralisations have a virtuous effect on fiscal performance, improving ge…
The Impact of Fiscal Decentralization
In this paper, we offer a comprehensive and updated review of the impact of fiscal decentralization on the economy, society and politics. Our first target is the examination of two crucial and yet unsolved issues in the empirical literature on decentralization: the proper measurement of decentralization itself and its potential endogeneity in econometric estimates. Then, we discuss the main existing findings on the effects of decentralization on …
Decentralization and the duration of fiscal consolidation
This paper analyzes the relationship between fiscal decentralization, the duration of fiscal consolidation episodes, and their success for 17 OECD countries between 1978 and 2009. The consolidation of the general government budget appears to be of longer duration when expenditure decisions are more decentralized. We also find that transfers from higher levels of government are cut during consolidation episodes, suggesting that central governments…
The growth and variability of regional taxes
The growth and variability of regional taxes: an application to Italy. Regional Studies. This paper investigates the potential long-term growth and short-term cyclical stability of the Italian regional tax system. Short- and long-run elasticities with respect to regional gross domestic product (GDP) are estimated between 2001 and 2012 for the surtax on central personal income tax (RPIT) and for the regional tax on productive activities (RTPA). Cy…
The influence of decentralized taxes and intergovernmental grants on local spending volatility
This paper studies what affects the volatility of sub-central public spending in 20 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and\nDevelopment (OECD) countries. The evidence based on data from 1972 to 2007 shows that the volatility of intergovernmental grants from upper levels is positively associated with the volatility of local expenditure. On the other hand, the volatility of local tax revenues – mainly that of property taxes – exerts the opposit…
Budgeting and implementing fiscal policy in Italy
Forecast errors in budgetary variables are frequent. When systematic, they are a source of concern, as they signal misconduct in fiscal policymaking, undermine the government’s credibility and compromise long-term fiscal sustainability. This paper analyses the characteristics of fiscal forecasting and implementation errors in Italy using real-time data over the period 1998–2009. Several empirical methods are applied in order to identify the featu…
A Comprehensive Analysis of Expenditure Decentralization and of the Composition of Local Public Spending
Sacchi A. and Salotti S. A comprehensive analysis of expenditure decentralization and of the composition of local public spending, Regional Studies. Many industrialized countries have recently implemented fiscal decentralization reforms assigning more spending responsibility to sub-national governments. This paper investigates the causes of the decentralization of different categories of public expenditure in 19 developed countries over the perio…
Tax decentralization and local government size
A Comprehensive Analysis of Expenditure Decentralization and of the Composition of Local Public Spending
Sacchi A. and Salotti S. A comprehensive analysis of expenditure decentralization and of the composition of local public spending, Regional Studies. Many industrialized countries have recently implemented fiscal decentralization reforms assigning more spending responsibility to sub-national governments. This paper investigates the causes of the decentralization of different categories of public expenditure in 19 developed countries over the perio…
Fiscal stability during the Great Recession
This paper provides an empirical analysis aimed at disentangling the roles played by decentralization level and design as well as the extended decentralized framework provided by subnational borrowing rules and fiscal responsibility laws on a country’s fiscal stability. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ data from the period 1995–2014, strong regularities are found regarding the effects of decentralizat…
Tax decentralization and local government size
Rational inattention and politics
Who Honours the Rules of Federalism? Party System Nationalisation and Fiscal Performance
This article explores the impact of decentralisation on countries’ fiscal outcomes paying attention to one aspect usually neglected in the literature: the relevance of local politics, proxied by party system nationalisation. Based on a wide sample of developed and developing countries over the period 1970–2011, our findings are threefold. First, both fiscal and political decentralisations have a virtuous effect on fiscal performance, improving ge…
Decentralization and the duration of fiscal consolidation
This paper analyzes the relationship between fiscal decentralization, the duration of fiscal consolidation episodes, and their success for 17 OECD countries between 1978 and 2009. The consolidation of the general government budget appears to be of longer duration when expenditure decisions are more decentralized. We also find that transfers from higher levels of government are cut during consolidation episodes, suggesting that central governments…
The influence of decentralized taxes and intergovernmental grants on local spending volatility
This paper studies what affects the volatility of sub-central public spending in 20 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and\nDevelopment (OECD) countries. The evidence based on data from 1972 to 2007 shows that the volatility of intergovernmental grants from upper levels is positively associated with the volatility of local expenditure. On the other hand, the volatility of local tax revenues – mainly that of property taxes – exerts the opposit…
The growth and variability of regional taxes
The growth and variability of regional taxes: an application to Italy. Regional Studies. This paper investigates the potential long-term growth and short-term cyclical stability of the Italian regional tax system. Short- and long-run elasticities with respect to regional gross domestic product (GDP) are estimated between 2001 and 2012 for the surtax on central personal income tax (RPIT) and for the regional tax on productive activities (RTPA). Cy…
Budgeting and implementing fiscal policy in Italy
Forecast errors in budgetary variables are frequent. When systematic, they are a source of concern, as they signal misconduct in fiscal policymaking, undermine the government’s credibility and compromise long-term fiscal sustainability. This paper analyses the characteristics of fiscal forecasting and implementation errors in Italy using real-time data over the period 1998–2009. Several empirical methods are applied in order to identify the featu…
Tax decentralization and local government size
Budgeting and implementing fiscal policy in Italy
Forecast errors in budgetary variables are frequent. When systematic, they are a source of concern, as they signal misconduct in fiscal policymaking, undermine the government’s credibility and compromise long-term fiscal sustainability. This paper analyses the characteristics of fiscal forecasting and implementation errors in Italy using real-time data over the period 1998–2009. Several empirical methods are applied in order to identify the featu…
A Comprehensive Analysis of Expenditure Decentralization and of the Composition of Local Public Spending
Sacchi A. and Salotti S. A comprehensive analysis of expenditure decentralization and of the composition of local public spending, Regional Studies. Many industrialized countries have recently implemented fiscal decentralization reforms assigning more spending responsibility to sub-national governments. This paper investigates the causes of the decentralization of different categories of public expenditure in 19 developed countries over the perio…
The influence of decentralized taxes and intergovernmental grants on local spending volatility
This paper studies what affects the volatility of sub-central public spending in 20 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and\nDevelopment (OECD) countries. The evidence based on data from 1972 to 2007 shows that the volatility of intergovernmental grants from upper levels is positively associated with the volatility of local expenditure. On the other hand, the volatility of local tax revenues – mainly that of property taxes – exerts the opposit…
The Impact of Fiscal Decentralization
In this paper, we offer a comprehensive and updated review of the impact of fiscal decentralization on the economy, society and politics. Our first target is the examination of two crucial and yet unsolved issues in the empirical literature on decentralization: the proper measurement of decentralization itself and its potential endogeneity in econometric estimates. Then, we discuss the main existing findings on the effects of decentralization on …
Decentralization and the duration of fiscal consolidation
This paper analyzes the relationship between fiscal decentralization, the duration of fiscal consolidation episodes, and their success for 17 OECD countries between 1978 and 2009. The consolidation of the general government budget appears to be of longer duration when expenditure decisions are more decentralized. We also find that transfers from higher levels of government are cut during consolidation episodes, suggesting that central governments…
The growth and variability of regional taxes
The growth and variability of regional taxes: an application to Italy. Regional Studies. This paper investigates the potential long-term growth and short-term cyclical stability of the Italian regional tax system. Short- and long-run elasticities with respect to regional gross domestic product (GDP) are estimated between 2001 and 2012 for the surtax on central personal income tax (RPIT) and for the regional tax on productive activities (RTPA). Cy…
Who Honours the Rules of Federalism? Party System Nationalisation and Fiscal Performance
This article explores the impact of decentralisation on countries’ fiscal outcomes paying attention to one aspect usually neglected in the literature: the relevance of local politics, proxied by party system nationalisation. Based on a wide sample of developed and developing countries over the period 1970–2011, our findings are threefold. First, both fiscal and political decentralisations have a virtuous effect on fiscal performance, improving ge…
Fiscal stability during the Great Recession
This paper provides an empirical analysis aimed at disentangling the roles played by decentralization level and design as well as the extended decentralized framework provided by subnational borrowing rules and fiscal responsibility laws on a country’s fiscal stability. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ data from the period 1995–2014, strong regularities are found regarding the effects of decentralizat…
Health spending in Italy
Asymmetric decentralization
This paper studies the interplay between central and local governments in defining the optimal degree of decentralization in terms of public goods supply. The choice between full centralization and asymmetric decentralization implies a trade-off between the possibility to provide public goods at a lower cost, wherever this is possible by decentralizing, and the possibility to fully internalize spillovers by full centralization. We find that asymm…
Rational inattention and politics
Citizens' attitudes towards climate mitigation policies
Climate protection is a global public good. The related mitigation policies implemented by a single country could have little effect on climate change issue such that there could be no net gains for society. However, those measures might create winners and losers among individuals. We investigate the citizens' support for different pro‐climate policies in EU countries, by considering the degree of heterogeneity in their attitudes towards climate …
Does politics matter? A comparative assessment of discretionary fiscal policies in the euro area
When using discretionary fiscal policies in the countries belonging to the European Union, any change affecting the current fiscal stance must run into the boundary designed by fiscal rules. This would imply that discretionary fiscal policies - being mainly driven by the need to comply with fiscal rules - might be scarcely affected by politics and the political characteristics of a country. We empirically test this hypothesis on a sample of 19 Eu…
Demographics, political agenda and public budget
In ageing societies, the growing number of elderly citizens is expected to bias the allocation of public resources in their favour, as office-seeking politicians respond to electoral incentives. Yet, such a tendency is scarcely observable in the data for some European countries. This paper develops a theoretical model of electoral competition between two parties facing an electorate composed of young and old voters. A key feature of the model is …
Government Spending and Civic Engagement
This study offers causal evidence on how distinct forms of civic engagement affect government spending across 28 democracies between 2000 and 2024. Its main innovation lies in disentangling the fiscal effects of two channels of engagement—civil society participation and electoral turnout—through an original identification strategy that exploits exogenous variation in collective versus self‐interested motives. Our findings reveal that civic engage…
Economics (14 works) · Macroeconomics (11 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (10 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (10 works) · Public economics (10 works) · Market economy (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Decentralization (8 works) · Economic policy (7 works) · Politics (7 works)