Dr Francesco Stolfi
Extension: 4180
Telephone: 01392 724180
Teaching Fellow
Welcome to my home page!
The financial and fiscal crisis that has engulfed the world and many EU Member States in particular has prompted calls for constitutional reforms introducing the requirement of balanced budgets for EU members. With Mark Hallerberg I am organising a workshop on the political and institutional implications of this requirement. The workshop, which will be held at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin next July, will bring together budget experts from a number of European countries. Stay tuned for more details...
My research focuses on the changes in the structure and composition of governments, in particular in the context of European integration. I have published articles in journals such as Governance, Journal of European Public Policy and Public Administration as well book chapters and working papers.
I am currently working on several projects:
- Reforming Budgets in Mediterranean Europe: Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain (book project). The Euro crisis has powerfully reminded the rest of Europe of the economic problems of its Mediterranean periphery. One of the fundamental issues is the lack of competitiveness of Mediterranean economies, and in particular the relative inefficiency of public administration in countries like Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The book asks what explains the mix of efficiency considerations and cost-saving in the budget reforms of these four countries and argues that a key factor is the ability of expert communities to influence the parties in government. One of the main contributions of this work is that it bridges different fields (Public Administration, Public Policy, Comparative Politics) by showing that in Southern Europe the nature of the party leadership (i.e. its readiness to adopt long-term reform projects as part of its re-election strategy) is determinant in explaining the extent to which budget reforms have also been chances to make the public administration more efficient rather than simply exercises in cost-cutting
- The Politics of Fiscal Federalism in Italy (with Mark Hallerberg)
- The Domestic Impact of the Lisbon Strategy: The Time Dimension (with Fabrizio Di Mascio and Alessandro Natalini), currently under review
- European Integration and the Formateur Advantage
- Second-Order Elections and Government Stability in the European Union
I am a member of a number of professional associations and research networks: American Political Science Association, European Union Studies Association, Council for European Studies, Midwest Political Science Association, Political Studies Association, Structure and Organisation of Government Research Netwrok, The Selection and Deselection of Political Elites Research Network
For my CV please click on Biography link
