The Italian parliamentary enquiry into poverty

Abstract

On the 12th of October, 1951, the Italian Parliament approved a motion for an enquiry into poverty. The task was assigned to a Parliamentary Commission where the several groups were represented proportionately to their numbers, under the chairmanship of Eio Vigorelli, now Minister of Labour in the Italian Government. The Commission delivered their general report in June, 1953, accompanied by a voluminous collection of documentary evidence: 14 volumes of statistical returns, technical enquiries, monographs on special subjects etc. In this brief article, the author sums up some of the more important conclusions reached both on the statistical field (attempts at a quantitative appraisement of economic and social depression in Italy), and  on the principals that should be followed to remedy the serious deficiencies of the present legislation.

JEL: I30, I32