“Leaving No Child Behind:” Preferences for Social Inclusion and Altruism

What is it about?

Social inclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon that involves social, political, and economic aspects of individuals’ life. While social inclusion is a priority of the European Agenda 2020, little is known about individuals’ preferences for social inclusion and its relationship with altruism. We exploit the marked cultural and socio-economic differences between North and South of Italy to investigate the relationship between people’s preferences for the social inclusion of juvenile offenders and parental and non-parental altruism using a unique and large household survey. Between North and South of Italy, we do not find policy relevant differences in terms of social inclusion but, interestingly, we find that the altruistic motives are significantly different.

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Why is it important?

Two main upshots and a conundrum: 1. little is known about societies' preferences towards social inclusion 2. they may val widely across societies thus explaining differing degrees of adoption of inclusion policies The conundrum: why households without children or people living along are willing to support inclusive programs for the children of other families? Does this "altruistic" behaviour differs across regions?

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