Massimiliano Ferraresi
Biographic Data
| ID | 4805342 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Massimiliano Ferraresi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Massimiliano |
| FAMILY NAME | Ferraresi |
| SIGNATURE | FERRARESI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Joint Research Centre |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7378-4641 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Structural Reforms During the Greek Economic Adjustment Program
Amalgamation reforms have been extensively implemented in several countries as policy instruments to improve local government service provision and reduce costs, based on scale economies. However, their effectiveness remains ambiguous in practice and varies depending on the context. We investigate the impact of a large‐scale amalgamation that took place in Greek municipalities in 2011, on current costs and investments. Using data for the 2005–201…
Does fiscal autonomy increase local income? Evidence from Italy
Can fiscal autonomy affect per capita income levels? We empirically investigate the impact of fiscal autonomy on per capita income through the proper use of local financial resources. Exploiting a natural experiment in Italy, we compare municipalities in the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, which retain and manage almost all their tax revenues, with neighbouring municipalities in Lombardy and Veneto, where only a small fraction of reve…
Electoral incentives to target investment in roads
Using a comprehensive dataset on Italian municipalities, we test whether investments in road services are affected by political manipulations motivated by the need of targeting a specific group of voters (construction firms). We show that road services investment in the year before election is 26% higher in municipalities with low density of construction firms and 40% higher in municipalities with high density of construction firms than in the el…
JUE Insight
This paper exploits the increase in immigrants from new European member states to test for the presence of strategic interactions in the municipal allocation of social transfers targeted at education services. The results of this analysis, conducted on all Italian municipalities over the 2003–2015 period, point to the presence of spatial interactions between neighbouring municipalities and indicate that this mimicking is more pronounced in munici…
Waste recycling and yardstick competition among Italian provinces after the EU Waste Framework Directive
Recycling and the recovery of waste are crucial waste management strategies. In light of the new European Union (EU) circular economy approach, these strategies remain core pillars of a competitive and sustainable waste value chain. Local governments have an important role in controlling and checking the implementation of waste management policies. We study the spatial determinants of waste recovery using a dataset of 102 Italian provinces from 2…
Political alignment, centralisation, and the sense of government unpreparedness during the Covid-19 pandemic
We rely on a periodic public opinion poll indicator of the performance of mayors collected for 103 large cities in Italy and in three waves (2015, 2017, and 2020) to examine whether and to what extent the exogenous shift in policy-making decisions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected citizens' perceptions regarding attributions of responsibility. We leverage the variation in political alignment between central and local governments and i…
The regional (re)allocation of migrants during the Great Lockdown in Italy
Savings from public procurement centralization in the healthcare system
We show that the introduction of the procurement centralization within the regional healthcare systems in Italy reduced per capita health expenditure approximatelyt by 2–8%, without affecting the level of health-related public services. Our results also indicate that the effect is persistent after six years, and is not influenced by the coexistence of other organizational models, such as amalgamation and hybrid systems. Finally, we document that …
Widespread swabs testing and the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak
To control the reproduction rate, R, and therefore to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, countries have announced several measures. We rely on a quasi-natural experimental approach and provide graphical evidence of the effectiveness of the widespread use of swabs testing in reducing the Covid infection rate among Italian provinces
Political cycles, spatial interactions and yardstick competition
I aim to identify the presence of spatial interactions among local governments by exploiting a novel strategy. Specifically, I take advantage of the political cycle of Italian municipalities over the period of 2001–2011 to isolate the effect of the spending decisions of one municipality on neighboring municipalities. The results of this analysis point to the presence of strategic interactions between neighboring municipalities and indicate that s…
Spillover effects in local public spending
This paper investigated the fiscal interactions between Italian municipalities over the period 2001–11 and found a positive horizontal interdependence in spending decisions. The results are robust to different specifications of the spatial neighbours and are confirmed by a natural experiment (an earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 2009) that creates an exogenous variation in the neighbours’ spending. Furthermore, there is no evidence of …
Political cycles, spatial interactions and yardstick competition
I aim to identify the presence of spatial interactions among local governments by exploiting a novel strategy. Specifically, I take advantage of the political cycle of Italian municipalities over the period of 2001–2011 to isolate the effect of the spending decisions of one municipality on neighboring municipalities. The results of this analysis point to the presence of strategic interactions between neighboring municipalities and indicate that s…
Spillover effects in local public spending
This paper investigated the fiscal interactions between Italian municipalities over the period 2001–11 and found a positive horizontal interdependence in spending decisions. The results are robust to different specifications of the spatial neighbours and are confirmed by a natural experiment (an earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 2009) that creates an exogenous variation in the neighbours’ spending. Furthermore, there is no evidence of …
Waste recycling and yardstick competition among Italian provinces after the EU Waste Framework Directive
Recycling and the recovery of waste are crucial waste management strategies. In light of the new European Union (EU) circular economy approach, these strategies remain core pillars of a competitive and sustainable waste value chain. Local governments have an important role in controlling and checking the implementation of waste management policies. We study the spatial determinants of waste recovery using a dataset of 102 Italian provinces from 2…
Spillover effects in local public spending
This paper investigated the fiscal interactions between Italian municipalities over the period 2001–11 and found a positive horizontal interdependence in spending decisions. The results are robust to different specifications of the spatial neighbours and are confirmed by a natural experiment (an earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 2009) that creates an exogenous variation in the neighbours’ spending. Furthermore, there is no evidence of …
Political cycles, spatial interactions and yardstick competition
I aim to identify the presence of spatial interactions among local governments by exploiting a novel strategy. Specifically, I take advantage of the political cycle of Italian municipalities over the period of 2001–2011 to isolate the effect of the spending decisions of one municipality on neighboring municipalities. The results of this analysis point to the presence of strategic interactions between neighboring municipalities and indicate that s…
Savings from public procurement centralization in the healthcare system
We show that the introduction of the procurement centralization within the regional healthcare systems in Italy reduced per capita health expenditure approximatelyt by 2–8%, without affecting the level of health-related public services. Our results also indicate that the effect is persistent after six years, and is not influenced by the coexistence of other organizational models, such as amalgamation and hybrid systems. Finally, we document that …
Widespread swabs testing and the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak
To control the reproduction rate, R, and therefore to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, countries have announced several measures. We rely on a quasi-natural experimental approach and provide graphical evidence of the effectiveness of the widespread use of swabs testing in reducing the Covid infection rate among Italian provinces
Political alignment, centralisation, and the sense of government unpreparedness during the Covid-19 pandemic
We rely on a periodic public opinion poll indicator of the performance of mayors collected for 103 large cities in Italy and in three waves (2015, 2017, and 2020) to examine whether and to what extent the exogenous shift in policy-making decisions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected citizens' perceptions regarding attributions of responsibility. We leverage the variation in political alignment between central and local governments and i…
The regional (re)allocation of migrants during the Great Lockdown in Italy
JUE Insight
This paper exploits the increase in immigrants from new European member states to test for the presence of strategic interactions in the municipal allocation of social transfers targeted at education services. The results of this analysis, conducted on all Italian municipalities over the 2003–2015 period, point to the presence of spatial interactions between neighbouring municipalities and indicate that this mimicking is more pronounced in munici…
Waste recycling and yardstick competition among Italian provinces after the EU Waste Framework Directive
Recycling and the recovery of waste are crucial waste management strategies. In light of the new European Union (EU) circular economy approach, these strategies remain core pillars of a competitive and sustainable waste value chain. Local governments have an important role in controlling and checking the implementation of waste management policies. We study the spatial determinants of waste recovery using a dataset of 102 Italian provinces from 2…
Electoral incentives to target investment in roads
Using a comprehensive dataset on Italian municipalities, we test whether investments in road services are affected by political manipulations motivated by the need of targeting a specific group of voters (construction firms). We show that road services investment in the year before election is 26% higher in municipalities with low density of construction firms and 40% higher in municipalities with high density of construction firms than in the el…
Structural Reforms During the Greek Economic Adjustment Program
Amalgamation reforms have been extensively implemented in several countries as policy instruments to improve local government service provision and reduce costs, based on scale economies. However, their effectiveness remains ambiguous in practice and varies depending on the context. We investigate the impact of a large‐scale amalgamation that took place in Greek municipalities in 2011, on current costs and investments. Using data for the 2005–201…
Does fiscal autonomy increase local income? Evidence from Italy
Can fiscal autonomy affect per capita income levels? We empirically investigate the impact of fiscal autonomy on per capita income through the proper use of local financial resources. Exploiting a natural experiment in Italy, we compare municipalities in the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, which retain and manage almost all their tax revenues, with neighbouring municipalities in Lombardy and Veneto, where only a small fraction of reve…
Economics (8 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (6 works) · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth (4 works) · Public economics (4 works) · Competition (biology (3 works) · Demographic economics (3 works)