Link:

www.polbis.eu

Partecipanti:

Paolo Roberto Graziano

Matteo Bassoli

Marco Almagisti

Martina Visentin

Giuseppe Acconcia

Marcello Cabria

Partner:

Prof. Stefano Campostini, Dipartimento di Economia, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia
Prof. Albert Meijer, Utrecht School of Governance, Università di Utrecht

Abstract:

The economic crisis increased unemployment and generated ‘new poor’ all around the world. Against this background, advocates of reforms called for the introduction of new schemes of social security and solidarity to support categories most at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The Citizen Income (CI) in Italy, and Basic Income (BI) pilots in Barcelona and in Utrecht are examples of this trend in social security reforms. Using the implementation of CI in the Veneto Region, and of BI pilots in Barcelona and Utrecht, as casestudies, POLBIS aims at analyzing main political goals driving the adoption of CI and BI schemes; the extent to which political choices determine the capacity of administrations to deliver these benefits; problems that public administrations have to cope with during the implementation stage and strategies to solve them; the extent to which these problems affect beneficiaries.
The project adopts a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach, combining document analysis, with interviewing, and a CATI survey, to investigate political strategies, administrative capacities, perceived wellbeing and red tape among beneficiaries. POLBIS is expected to improve our knowledge on political and administrative aspects related to the provision of CI and BI, to provide practical insights into the design and implementation of these schemes that would improve the administrative capacities of institutions responsible for delivering them, to raise awareness among the public and beneficiaries of impacts these measures have on wellbeing and in reducing red tape and excessive bureaucracy. After the conclusion of the project, the research group would be involved in dissemination activities towards public administrations through the development of feasibility studies on administrative capacities needed by Job Centres in other Italian Regions; and in design specific training courses for public officials and bureaucrats to improve their skills and administrative capacities.

Obiettivi:

The POLBIS project aims to investigate the main political goals driving the adoption of Minimum Income schemes; the extent to which these political choices determine the capacity of administrations to deliver these benefits; the problems public administrations have to cope with during the implementation of these measures and strategies adopted to solve them; the extent to which these problems affect beneficiaries.
More specifically, POLBIS is aimed:
1) At extending our knowledge on political and administrative aspects related to the provision of new social
schemes such as CI and BI.
2) At providing practical insights into the design and implementation of these schemes that would improve
the administrative capacities of institutions responsible for delivering them.
3) At raising awareness among the public and beneficiaries of impacts these measures have on wellbeing
and in reducing red tape and excessive bureaucracy.

Piano delle attività:

WP 1 – Project Management: coordination of the project, financial management and reporting, management of internal and external relationships and communication, documentation management.
WP 2 – Theoretical Background: critical review of literature on Basic and Minimum Incomes and active inclusion policies; definition of the research framework.
WP 3 – Fieldwork and data collection: During this stage the empirical research will be planned and conducted in the Veneto Region, Barcelona, and Utrecht, using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach (documents and data gathering, interviews with key-informants).
WP 4 – Data analysis: elaboration of data using NViVo and STATA, production of research reports.
WP 5 – Dissemination: publications, organization of and participation in scientific conferences, organization of workshops with local administrators.

Contatti:

giorgia.nesti@unipd.it