Public spending

As the story goes, there are no free rides. The costs of each journey must necessarily be borne by someone. They can be broken down into three categories: the monetary…

Introduction Governments and other public sector entities have borrowed up to the limit of their debt capacity, and, in the EU, its supranational entities have run up debts themselves. Public…

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) into law—a sweeping package of tax cuts and federal spending presented as a patriotic revival of…

When Donald Trump vowed to dismantle Washington’s bureaucracy, few expected Elon Musk to lead the charge. Yet, Musk now heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a White House task…

As is well known, in Western countries public spending represents today a high percentage of the gross domestic product. In Europe, it stands at around 50%. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has…

In mid-September former ECB President Mario Draghi published a 400-page report recommending changes necessary to boost the EU’s competitiveness.  Although couched in broadly positive language, the document did little to…

The bridge between Sicily and the Italian mainland is probably the longest living project in the world. According to some historians, it dates back to the Romans. The idea had…

Modern states carry out intense redistribution. In brief, they modify the holdings of particular persons, collective agents or groups. Tax-transfers and public expenditure are an important tool through which redistribution…

As emphasized in June, the law establishing the Italian universal-minimum-income programme (RdC) also puts the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies — the same authority that advocated its adoption —…

The idea of ​​providing an unconditional income to everyone, regardless of whether «the person is rich or poor, lives alone or with others, is willing to work or not» (Van…