Accountability, anti-corruption, and transparency policies in Public owned enterprises (POEs): The case of Italy

Titolo Rivista ECONOMIA PUBBLICA
Autori/Curatori Andrea Zatti
Anno di pubblicazione 2022 Fascicolo 2022/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 36 P. 43-78 Dimensione file 168 KB
DOI 10.3280/EP2022-001004
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

The paper depicts, in the Italian case, the interconnections between two themes: bribery and anti-corruption policies, on the one hand, and the role of public controlled entities, on the other. Italy turns out to be an interesting case study because, on the one hand, it is among the worst performing countries in the G7 and the EU members in terms of corruption and, on the other, it has experienced a strongly proliferation of Public owned enterprises (POEs) during the last two or three decades, involving nearly all activity sec-tors of the economy. This process is deemed to have weakened the chain of control on shared units, delegating relevant financial and political decisions to a milieu of ambiguity and uncertain accountability (the ‘escape’ argument). A progressive change of direction occurred more recently, when corporatized public enterprises have been submitted to specific and increasing limits, including transparency and anti-corruption policies. The anticorruption package, adopted in Italy starting with 2012, has promoted important steps in this direction, yet the effects of these new measures have not been resolutive, and many challenges are still open.

Keywords:corruption, public owned enterprises, corporatization, hybrid organization, Italian case study

Jel codes:D23, D73, G38, H11 K23, K42, L32

  1. Alexius S., Cisneros Ornberg J.C. (2015). Mission(s) impossibile? Configuring values in the governance of state-owned enterprises. J. Pub. Sector Manage., 28(4/5): 286-306. DOI: 10.1108/IJPSM-08-2015-0151
  2. ANAC (2015). Aggiornamento 2015 al Piano Nazionale Anticorruzione, Determinazione n. 12. Roma.
  3. ANAC (2018). Relazione 2018. Roma.
  4. Baum A., Hackney C., Medas P., Sy M. (2019). Governance and State-Owned Enterprises: How Costly is Corruption?. IMF Working Paper, WP/19/253.
  5. Belhoncine N., Jirasavetakul L. (2020). Lessons from Two Public Sector Reforms in Italy. IMF Working Paper, WP/20/40.
  6. Belloc F. (2014). Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom. J. Econ. Issues, 8(3): 821-848. DOI: 10.2753/JEI0021-3624480311
  7. Bergh A., Erlingsson G., Gustafsson A., Wittemberg E. (2019). Municipally owned Enterprises as Danger Zones for Corruption? How Politicians having Feet in Two Camps May Undermine Conditions for Accountability. Public Integrity, 21(3): 320-352. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2018.1522182
  8. Bernier M. (2014). Public eneterises as policy instruments: The importance of public entrepreneurship. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 17(3): 253-266. DOI: 10.1080/17487870.2014.909312
  9. Bertocchi M. (2017). ‘Transparency in Local State-Owned Enterprises in Italy. Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management, 2: 31-46.
  10. Bishop W. (1990). A Theory of Administrative Law. Journal of Legal Studies, XIX: 489-528. DOI: 10.1086/467859
  11. Bognetti G., Obermann G. (2008). Liberalization and privatization of public utilities: origins of the debate, current issues and challenges for the future. Ann. Public Coop. Econ., 79: 461-485.
  12. Bruton G.D., Peng M.W., Ahlstrom D., Stan C., Xu K. (2015). State-owned enterprises around the world as hybrid organizations. Acad. Manage. Perspect., 29(1): 92-114,
  13. Ceschel F., Hinna A., Scarozza D. (2016). Organization and risk management practices for fighting corruption: evidences for the Italian public sector. In: Myrczek J., Tworek P. (eds.). Public Risk Management: Perspective of Theory and Practice, Tome 1. Publishing House of University of Economics in Katowice.
  14. Commissario alla spesa (2014). Programma di razionalizzazione delle partecipate locali.
  15. Corte dei Conti (2017). Gli organismi partecipati dagli enti territoriali. Relazione 2017. Deliberazione N.27/SEZAUT/2017/FRG, Roma.
  16. Corte dei Conti (2018). Gli organismi partecipati dagli enti territoriali. Relazione 2018. Deliberazione N.23/SEZAUT/2018/FRG, Roma.
  17. Corte dei Conti (2019). Gli organismi partecipati dagli enti territoriali e sanitari. Relazione 2019. Deliberazione N.29/SEZAUT/2019/FRG, Roma.
  18. Curci N., Depalo D., Vadalà E. (2017). Municipal socialism or municipal capitalism? The performance of local public enterprises in Italy. Banca d’Italia, Questioni di Economia e Finanza, 408.
  19. Dela R. (2011). Corporate Governance and Corruption: Ethical Dilemmas of Asian Business Group. J. Bus. Ethics, 109(4): 501-519,
  20. European Commission (2001). Services of General Interest in Europe. Communication from the Commission: (2001/C 17/04).
  21. European Commission (2010). Guide to the application of the European Union rules on state aid, public procurement and the internal market to services of general economic interest, and in particular to social services of general interest, SEC(2010)1545final.
  22. European Commission (2016). State Owned Enterprises in the EU: lessons learnt and ways Forward in a Post-Crisis Context. European Economy, Institutional paper 031/ July.
  23. European commission (2019). Country Report Italy 2019 Including an In-Depth Review on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalance. SWD(2019) 1011 final.
  24. Florio M. (2014). Contemporary Public Enterprises: Innovation, Accountability, Governance. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 17(3): 201-8. DOI: 10.1080/17487870.2014.913823
  25. GRECO-Group of States against Corruption (2017). Fourth evaluation round. Corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors. Council of Europe, Strasbourg.
  26. G20 (2018). G20 High-level principles for Preventing Corruption and Ensuring Integrity in State Owned-Enterprises. G20 Argentina 2018.
  27. Grossi G., Reichard C. (2008). Municipal Corporatization in Germany and Italy. Pub. Manage. Rev., 10(5): 597-617. DOI: 10.1080/14719030802264275
  28. Grossi G., Ppenfuß U., Tremblay M.S. (2015). Corporate governance and accountability of state-owned enterprises. Relevance for science and society and interdisciplinary research perspectives. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 28(4/5): 274-285. DOI: 10.1108/IJPSM-09-2015-0166
  29. IMF-International Monetary Fund (2019). Fiscal Monitor. Curbing Corruption. Washington DC.
  30. ISTAT (2020). Le participate pubbliche in Italia. Anno 2017, Statistiche Report, febbraio.
  31. Karantounias V., Pinelli D. (2016). Local State-Owned Enterprises in Italy: inefficiencies and ways Forward, European Economy, Economic Brief 010, April.
  32. Klein M. (2012). Corporatization and the behavior of public firms: how shifting control rights affects political interference. EPPP DP 3, Chaire EPPP IAE Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris.
  33. LGA-Local Government Association of South Australia (2013). The ICAC Act 2012. Key issues for local government. Information Paper 11. Understanding Maladministration, October.
  34. Lindholst A. C. (2021). Addressing public-value failure: remunicipalization as acts of public entrepreneurship. Journal of Economic Policy Reform 24(3): 380-397. DOI: 10.1080/17487870.2019.1671192
  35. Massarutto A., Garlatti A., Miani S., Cassetta E., Iacuzzi S. (2021). Evaluating the performance of local SoEs as output maximizing entities: The case of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Ann. Public Coop. Econ, 92(2): 307-33.
  36. McDonald D.A. (2014). Rethinking Corporatization and Public services in the Global South. London: Zed Books.
  37. McDonald D.A. (2016). To corporatize or not corporatize (and if so, how). Utility Policy, 40: 107-114.
  38. MEF (2019a), Rapporto sulle partecipazioni delle Amministrazioni pubbliche. Dati 2016. Dipartimento del Tesoro, Roma.
  39. MEF (2019b). Rapporto sugli esiti della revisione straordinaria delle partecipazioni pubbliche. Roma.
  40. Mocetti S., Roma G. (2020). Da 8.000 a 1.000? Razionalizzazione e governance delle società pubbliche. Banca d’Italia, Questioni di economia e finanza, Occasional papers, n. 570.
  41. Nguyen T.T., van Dijk M.A. (2012). Corruption, growth, and governance: Private vs. state-owned firms in Vietnam. J. Bank. Financ, 36: 2935-2948,
  42. OECD (2015). OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. Paris.
  43. OECD (2017). Government at a glance 2017. Paris.
  44. OECD (2018). State-owned enterprises and corruption. What are the risks and what can be done?. Highlights. Paris.
  45. OECD (2019a). Guidelines on Anti-Corruption and Integrity in State-Owned Enterprises. Paris.
  46. OECD (2019b). Recommendation of the Council on guidelines on anti-corruption and integrity in State-Owned enterprises. C/MIN(2019)5/FINAL, Paris.
  47. Osculati F., Zatti A. (2005). The services of General Economic Interest. The Case of Local Public Transport in Italy. Il Politico, 3: 411-447, JSTOR -- www.jstor.org/stable/43099943.
  48. Previtali P. (2017). The application of legislative decree no. 231/2001 through organizational models: rhetoric or real effectiveness?. Impresa Progetto – Electronic Journal of management, 2.
  49. Previtali P., Zatti A., Scarozza D. (2018). Public owned enterprises in Italy: A hybrid nature for a hybrid regime of over-compliance. African Journal of Business Management, 12(6): 140-153. DOI: 10.5897/AJBM2017.8472
  50. Saussier S., Klein M. (2014). Local Public Enterprises: A Taxonomy, EPPP DP n.12, Chaire EPPP IAE Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris.
  51. Sorrentino M. (2020). State-owned Enterprises and the Public Mission. A Multidimensional Lens. In Bernier L., Florio M., Bance P. (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of State Owned Enterprises. Routledge.
  52. Torsteinsen H., van Genugtsen M. (2016). Municipal waste management in Norway and the Netherlands – from in-house provision to intermunicipal cooperation. In: Kuhlmann S. and Bouckaert G. (eds.). Local Public Sector Reforms in Times of Crisis. 205-220. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
  53. Tonurist P., Karo E. (2016). State owned enterprises as instruments of innovation policy. Ann. Public Coop. Econ., 87(4): 623-648.
  54. Vit G. (2016). Over-Compliance and the Conformity Trap. Paper presented at European Group for Organization Studies Conference, Naples, Italy.
  55. Voorn B., Van Genugten M., Van Thiel S. (2018). Background, Autonomy, Steering, and Corporate Governance: Determinants of the Effectiveness of (Governance of) Municipal Corporations, Conference Paper, EGPA 2018, Lausanne, Switzerland.
  56. Wilkinson P. (2018), State-owned enterprises: beacons of integrity? The case for implementing the 10 anti-corruption principles for state-owned enterprises, Transparency International, Berlin, Germany.
  57. Wollmann H. (2014). Public Services in European Countries. Between Public/Municipal and Private Sector Provision – and Reverse?. In: Nunes C., Bucek J. (eds.). Fiscal Austerity and Innovation in Local Governance in Europe. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 49-76.
  58. Wollman H. (2018). Public and Personal Social Services in European Countries from Public/municipal to private-and Back to Municipal and ‘Third Sector’ provision. International Public Management Journal, 2(3): 413-431,
  59. World Bank (2014). Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises, A Toolkit. Washington, World Bank Group.
  60. Zatti A. (2012). New Organisational models in European Local Public Transport: from Myth to Reality. Ann. Public Coop. Econ., 83(4): 533-559.
  61. Zatti A. (2013). European Local Public Transport between Convergence and Diversity. Paramithiotti G. (eds.). Servizi pubblici e imprese pubbliche in Europa tra convergenza e sussidiarietà, Quaderni della Rivista il Politico, 60: 123-158.

Andrea Zatti, Accountability, anti-corruption, and transparency policies in Public owned enterprises (POEs): The case of Italy in "ECONOMIA PUBBLICA " 1/2022, pp 43-78, DOI: 10.3280/EP2022-001004