RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI SCIENZE SOCIALI

Through a radical change of perspective, the current ‘‘End TB Strategy’’ of the World Health Organization recognizes the urgency of addressing the social determinants of tuberculosis to fight its diffusion. To achieve this result, it encourages the adoption of a people-centered approach and the engagement of multiple stakeholders, including local communities, in care services provision. This study, through a mixed-method of textual analysis applied to 25 semi-structured interviews, analyses to what extent actors involved in the elaboration of National Strategic Plans to fight tuberculosis in low/middle income countries perceive these new components and propose a consistent perspective during policy-making processes. Results suggest a clear perception of the strategic role of a national partnering approach to increase treatment adherence and strengthen health systems effectiveness at the local level. Further, the actual engagement of partners is associated to a marked people-centered approach, supporting a rights-enhancing process in public health policy-making.

The objective of the paper is the identification of the social, economic, demographic, national groups who have the perception of having been left behind after the Great Recession by the national and common institutions in Europe. To understand the origin of such disparities and the characteristics of the winners and the losers, we propose an overview of the evolution of income and wealth inequality during the Great Recession and, in particular, an evaluation of the polarization of income and wealth at the extremes of the distribution. Then, we present a review of the literature, assessing the effects on income and wealth distribution of the policy measures introduced during the Great Recession to confront the consequences of the crisis. Finally, we summarize the appraisals of the Great Recession expressed by the European institutions in their official reports and their perspective on the issue of inclusiveness.

It is well known how high and persistent is the Italian public debt and its cost borne by citizens. Less known is the territorial dimension of the redistributive effects of this burden. In this article we try to shine a light on the regional financial redistribution of government securities in Italy over a long period of time. According to our findings, the financing burden, estimated using alternative criteria, is borne by all regions and, for most regions, the enjoyed benefits, as securities holders, are not sufficient to offset the amount paid through taxes. Furthermore, the monetary losses are not homogeneously distributed at regional level: Southern regions and some of the centre show a greater financial disadvantage. Finally, our results show that household sector is almost always loser, and this finding does not depend on the type of possession considered (directly or directly plus indirectly) and on the financing criteria adopted.

The present note has an informative purpose. It calls attention to Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), a prominent 20th century intellectual, well known for his contributions as a theologian, but whose reflections and writings also covered economics. Two volumes of his more than twenty collected works present the main lines of his comprehensive economic vision, including a critical discussion on the prevailing economic ideologies at the eve and inception of WWII, and they show the need not only for a deep change of the objectives of economic policies but also for a deep rethinking of the purpose of economics as a social discipline.