Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2001): Welfare State - Overseas

REFORMS GUIDED BY CONSENSUS: THE WELFARE STATE IN THE ITALIAN TRANSITION

M. Ferrera and E. Gualmini

West European Politics, vol.23, Apr. 2000, p.187-208

A wave of reforms was introduced in Italy in the 1990s in the fields of pensions and the labour market. Pension expenditure has been brought under control and the pension formula substantially rationalised. A clear shift from passive to active labour market policies has been effected. These reforms have been introduced via an increasingly well-articulated system of "concertation" between the government and the social partners. The negotiated character of the reforms is largely responsible for their success.