Category: policy

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Did the citizenship income scheme do it? The supposed electoral consequence of a flagship policy

Citizenship income credit card

In the aftermath of the 2022 Italian legislative elections, but also during the entire electoral campaign, several claims were made that much of the electoral support for the Five Star Movement had been triggered by the ‘Reddito di cittadinanza’ – the welfare policy introduced in 2019 by the yellow–green government. This research note first distinguishes between distributive politics and policy voting, and then explores the empirical relationship between the geographical provision at the municipal level of the citizenship income and the vote for the party led by Giuseppe Conte. While traditional multivariate analyses fail to reveal any spurious relationship, matching techniques help highlight the absence of any causal relationship between the two variables.

 Marco Giuliani (2024).  Did the citizenship income scheme do it? The supposed electoral consequence of a flagship policy. Italian Political Science Review 54(1): 101-109

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Policy-taking styles: a typology and an empirical application to anti-Covid policies

Several studies have investigated the variety of governance strategies adopted by European countries to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. Some nations relied on a more liberal approach, based on recommendations and a lack of mandatory constraints; others trusted more top-down regulations and longlasting restrictions. The feasibility and success of the different strategies also depend on the way in which policy-takers react. 

The article uses this exemplary policy case to propose a novel theoretical framework which maps the variety of policy-taking styles applying March and Olsen’s (2006) logics of conditionality and appropriateness. Using mobility data, it then employs the new typology to explore the diverse styles adopted by policy-takers reacting to anti-Covid workplace regulations in 29 European countries. The categories proposed can be applied also in different contexts, especially where policy success crucially depends on countless individual behaviours, and policymakers need to choose the most effective mix of enforcement tools.

Marco Giuliani (2024): Policy-taking styles: a typology and an empirical application to anti-Covid policies, Journal of European Public Policy 31(7): 1831-1855. 

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Complying with Anti-COVID Policies. Subnational Variations and their Correlates

Italy was the first European country to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, experimenting and fine-tuning its policies against the virus. In November 2020, the Italian government introduced a color-coding system, adapting its constraining measures to the local epidemiological situation. 

In this research note, I first use mobility data to check the effects of this policy, and then analyse their geographical variation for similar levels of constraint as a proxy for its local enforcement. Finally, I explore some ex-ante and ex-post correlates of greater or lesser adherence to the mobility constraints in regard to the further spread of the virus. Contrary to some stereotypes, the level of compliance with the new anti-COVID policy was reasonably high, and in any case sufficient to curb the pandemic.

Marco Giuliani (2022) Complying with Anti-COVID Policies. Subnational Variations and their Correlates. Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche, 2: 241-268, DOI: 10.1483/104976