The 20 th International Economic Association World Congress (IEA-2023) held in Medellin in Colombia, from the 11th to the 15th of December 2023, aimed to gather economists from all over the world to discuss their research and policy issues of mutual concern and to address and debate the significant economic and policy
challenges.
The IEA Congress was held for the first time in Colombia, at the Universidad EAFIT, with the financial contribution of several sponsors.
Thanks to the participation of more than 700 international experts, the 2023 Congress’ theme “World Economy at a Turning Point? Conflict, Fragmentation, and Divergence” has been successfully analysed.
In fact, during the five days of Congress, economists participate in panels and policy sessions concerning, for example, “Energy Transition and Development”, “Education and social mobility”, “Micro/macro and international economics”, “Health, Education, and Welfare”, “Economic development and innovation”, “Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics” …
On this occasion, Prof. Raffaele Paci from the University of Cagliari successfully presented the research paper Public Capital and Institutions’ Quality in the Italian Regions based on the ESSPIN project.
This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on public capital effectiveness by distinguishing among the government levels responsible for the expenditure (central and local bodies) and explicitly considering local institutions’ quality.
The empirical analysis focuses on Italy’s regional economic performance over the 2000-2019 period. Italy represents a relevant case for analysing the relationship between public capital impact and the role played by different institutional levels given the persistent North-South divide.
The ESSPIN Project
The ESSPIN (Economic, Social and Spatial Inequalities in Europe in the Era of Global Mega-trends) project aims to re-examine the nexus of social, economic and spatial inequalities in the EU; the various types, modalities and mix of policies that address them, in light of emerging and strongly interacting mega-trends and challenges that threaten to increase pressures and make policy choices even more difficult. As new and old drivers of change are expected to create a rather unfavourable environment for balanced growth and socio-spatial resilience, this research will focus on analysing policy responses, with the goal of making them more proactive, inclusive, and effective.
ESSPIN is a tree years Horizon Europe Project, started on October 2022, funded by the European Union, with a funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101061104.
