No. 992 - Ten years on: has Italy's Inner Areas Strategy paid off?

Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional papers)
by Michele Mariani
December 2025
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This paper evaluates the impact of Italy's national strategy for inner areas (SNAI), a place-based policy launched in 2014 to counteract demographic and economic decline in peripheral territories. After outlining the policy's goals and implementation phases, the study draws on municipal-level data to assess its effects ten years after its launch.

We find no evidence of population growth, in line with the long time needed for demographic change. The number of firm establishments rises by about 2 percent in treated municipalities, with no effects on employment or housing prices. Municipalities with stronger administrative capacity and those in Central and Northern Italy use resources more effectively, generating larger benefits and underscoring the role of governance and local context.

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  1. 22 December 2025
    No. 992 - Ten years on: has Italy’s Inner Areas Strategy paid off?
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