Regional policy and long term care program

The population's indicators predict a constant increase in the demand for health care and welfare related services, at least with reference to the most developed countries. In Italy the provision of the aforementioned services is devoluted to the local tier of government. This work focuses on the problem of financing the greater expenditure for elderly not self-sufficient people. The issues at stake concern on the one hand the analysis of the expenditure side and on the other hand the problem of a regional public sector financing. Two alternative policies are implemented in a general economic equilibrium framework. They regard two local taxes, respectively the regional additional taxation on income (IRPEF)and the regional taxation on production (IRAP). The study points out the efficiency and effectiveness effects of the manoeuvres, focusing both on the market distortions and on the regressive effects. Finally, by a welfare analysis, the net impact (i.e., levy compared with subsidies) on families, grouped according to their income class, is investigated