Autonomia differenziata e omogeneità regionale delle preferenze

Proposals to increase regional autonomy under examination by the Italian Parliament have been motivated by higher allocative efficiency of decentralized supply of public services and regulatory measures based on local specific preferences and demand. According to Oates’ decentralization theorem, local homogeneity of preferences is one of the conditions for making regional supply more efficient. However, preliminary empirical evidence provided in this study suggests that in most cases the degree of regional homogeneity in preferences for the intensity and mode of public intervention is no significantly higher than that found for the country as a whole. Therefore, the condition underlying the argument for the higher allocative efficiency of regions does not appear to be grounded.