La questione dei costi standard ed i problemi del Mezzogiorno[The issue of standard costs and problems of the Southern Italy]

The issue of standard costs is the subject of the bill Calderoli (A.C. n. 2105), which must be implemented by the article 119 of the Italian Constitution. It should be noted, in this regard, that in economic theory have been proposed several formulations of the concept of standard cost, which appear very different for purposes and for contents. In any case, the magnitude at issue is not “objective”, but it refers to the assessments of those who are entitled to make one, or of those special operators that the person interested in the cost analysis (stakeholder) recognizes a technical expertise and a specific role in the governance system to which the determination of standards is related. In this article, it is noted that in the article 2, paragraph 2, letter f) of the bill (and, indeed, all over the bill) has neglected the issue of cost management. The crucial problem is the financial sustainability of the system for all entities in the medium term and not only minimize its operating costs, that is precisely the question of the cost management. In the study, it is attempted to demonstrate that a technical analysis of these problems is possible. It has been proposed, in this regard, an approximate exercise, which only has the function to test the possibility of one of the possible paths. In this exercise have made certain assumptions - such as greater efficiency (an efficiency no less), for the health, of the regions of the Southern Italy - that must be considered, in any case, very carefully.