Material deprivation: an application to Italian regions

Using a measure of material deprivation, the paper shows that the well-being of individuals living in the South of Italy is consistently lower than the well-being of those residing elsewhere in the country. The correspondence between income poverty and material deprivation is almost perfect. Regional social policies were not effective not only for the insufficient budget involved but also for the method of implementation followed, being mostly based on temporary measures. There is the urgent need of the introduction of a system that guarantees minimum levels of assistance to every citizen independent of its region of residence.