Servizio idrico, trasporti locali, rifiuti urbani, distribuzione del gas, prestazioni ospedaliere, servizi di cura per l’infanzia sono comparti produttivi molto diversi tra loro, ma accomunati dalla pregnanza dell’intervento pubblico e dalla natura locale dell’intervento stesso. Diventano perciò un terreno emblematico per le interazioni che si verificano tra settore pubblico e attività economica privata e per i nessi tra finanza pubblica centrale e locale. Inoltre essi costituiscono un fattore fondamentale per spiegare i divari di benessere e di performance economica nelle diverse aree del paese. I processi di riforma a cui tali settori sono andati incontro negli ultimi anni hanno portato a una liberalizzazione spesso incerta, parziale e non priva di incongruenze. Gli autori, sulla base di una ampia ricerca, analizzano il processo nel dettaglio al fine di tracciare un bilancio, identificare le questioni rimaste irrisolte e formulare un’agenda possibile, anche alla luce dei recentissimi interventi legislativi.

LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES

Liberalization, regulation and growth

This volume deals with local public services, which include heterogeneous industries, having in common an important role of the State and the local nature of the service: water service, local public transport, waste management, gas distribution, hospital management, child care.

Although with sectorial differences, local public services have experienced liberalization processes driven by three objectives: separating planning and regulation (public) from service provision (possibly also private); introducing market competition into service provision (mainly competition for the market, i.e., franchise bidding); reducing the supply fragmentation and the prevalence of local provision in service management.

The aims were to foster cost reductions and quality enhancements trough a clear identification of the costs of the services; to ensure a greater exploitation of scale economies and a better internalization of environmental (and other) externalities.

As the specific chapters devoted to each sectors document, the liberalization processes have often been uncertain, incomplete and not always well designed.

The weaknesses identified in the volume are associated to both implementation problems and a not fully coherent liberalization design. The latter has to do with the difficulty of financing infrastructure investments only through (increased) tariffs; with the weaknesses of the regulatory framework, with too «local» authorities which have consequently been too weak; with the conflicts of interests of local municipalities which were (are) at the same time owners (or shareholders) of service providers, regulators, representatives of consumers and employees.

The recent reform («decreto Ronchi») appears to go in the right direction, by strengthening market principles and providing clear (and not too long) transitory period for its application. Yet it does not appear to deal with the main issues this volume has identified as key.

Keywords: local public services, regulation, efficiency.

JEL Classification: H54, H76, K23, L51, L52