81742 - ECONOMIA E POLITICHE DI WELFARE

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will have an in-depth understanding of the analysis of changes in welfare policies in response to the profound demographic, social, and technological transformations currently underway, with particular reference to the financing and management of personal services, including insurance and pension services, health care, social assistance, and education. Particular attention is devoted to the shift from systems in which public intervention is aimed at directly financing and managing services to arrangements in which management is assigned, wholly or in part, to third parties — including providers operating in competition with one another — through the use of new regulatory models and more sophisticated tools for quality assessment and incentives. Also through case analysis, students will be able to understand the effects of these instruments and to evaluate them critically not only in relation to their allocative and redistributive effects, but also in terms of their consistency with the objectives that motivate public intervention. Students will therefore learn about: -the economic motivations for public intervention in welfare service; -the classical models of financing and management of welfare services; - the economic and political problems of sustainability; - the outsourcing of service management: mechanisms of evaluation and incentives; - the regulation of quasi-markets: competition and freedom of choice in welfare services.

Course contents

The rationale for public intervention in welfare, with reference to the main areas of social protection: pensions, assistance, health, and education.

The evolution of welfare systems and the main modes of financing and intervention in social protection policies.

The sustainability challenges of welfare and the main transformations of the welfare state.

The analysis of selected areas and policy instruments of contemporary welfare, with particular attention to personal services and to some aspects of the organization, management, evaluation, and regulation of services.

Readings/Bibliography

The list of references and the lecture slides, together with related supplementary materials, are available on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

Classes, discussions, and further exploration of topics covered during the course.

Assessment methods

Written exam, open questions (approximate duration: 2 hours). Further information will be made available on Virtuale.

For attending students, part of the final assessment may also be based on optional individual or group in-depth activities and on their related discussion in class, according to arrangements that will be specified during the course and published on Virtuale.

As regards assessment, the use of generative Artificial Intelligence is not allowed during the written in-class exam. In any optional individual or group in-depth activities, including those carried out in class, a limited, declared, and non-substantive use of AI may be permitted as support for summarising materials, rephrasing content, and preparing the discussion, provided that the final elaboration remains critical and personal.

The maximum possible score is 30 cum laude, awarded for excellent, complete, and formally rigorous answers.

Grades are assigned according to the following scale:

• <18 fail
• 18-23 sufficient
• 24-27 good
• 28-30 very good
• 30 cum laude excellent
•  

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilitiesare kindly requested to contact the office responsible as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the teacher, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Slides, blackboard, and teaching materials made available on the Virtuale platform.

Office hours

See the website of Marta Giachello