THE RE-QUALIFICATION OF PUBLIC SPENDING AND THE CONTROL OVER ITS PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS - HEALTH-SERVICE, PENSIONS, LOCAL-AUTHORITIES, EDUCATION

The paper tackles the problems surrounding the main aspects of the gro wth of public spending in Italy; it pays particular attention to those sectors of expenditure that most impact on the trend of public accoun ts. In this context, it makes a critical review of the development of public policies for intervention in the areas of health services, soci al security, schooling and local finance and surveys them in the light of the recent far-reaching innovations introduced in the course of pr eparing the manouevers for the reform of the public finances.