Taking care of commons to tackle the financial crisis

Abstract

The economic crisis triggered several restrictive policies aimed at reducing public expenses. One of the options pursued in this respect concerns public goods and implies an increased efficiency in the management of such goods through the involvement of private players and the sale of public assets to reduce costs. This intervention line is, however, reductive, limited to a "quantitative" approach, which could weaken public administration's responsiveness towards public needs. It is thus mandatory to get over the traditional approach aimed at correcting the drawbacks of the past models, largely inspired by the combination of reducing costs and increasing market influence.