Investments and sustainability of public expenditure in the health sector

Abstract

The impact of the Italian expenditure for the health care on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and on total public expenditure, is in line with those of the major industrialized countries, and somewhat lower than the European average. The issue of the Italian health sector is not simply related to the contraction of the expenditure: in effect, it should be highlighted that Italy currently does not spend “a lot” and, above all, invests “little” in the mentioned sector. Nevertheless, the health sector can be a very important flywheel for the economic recovery but, in order to make this possible, it is necessary to pay a lot of attention, and to invest the best resources. In this work, the authors intend to develop an analysis of the desirability of investment on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the health sector, and the consequent compatibility with current expenditure, by identifying at the outset the channels multipliers related to the resources at present allocated to the current health expenditure and capital account.