Rent seeking , non profits and Criminal Hubs : the case of Calabria

The study concerns rent seeking in the allocation of the Structural Funds for cultural development in the region of Calabria. The Regional planning following the European guidelines was very complex. Its cultural axis, officially oriented to promote tourism, consisted of three measures, each oriented to four goals, with five strategies for each goal and seven specific action, each articulate in a number of sub-actions, without any clear priority.In the statistical analysis the variables relating to major cultural sites had no significance. Rent seeking relating to non profits, to criminal hubs , to construction interests, to employment of people was significant. This may explain the fragmentation of the projects. On the other hand, the presence of major cultural sites was not important in the disbursement of funds to the criminal hubs. The anomalous discrepancy between allocation of funds and payments also may be explained as a rent seeking phenomenon. The centre-right Government spent the funds for investment projects,the centre-left Government devoted the funds to service projects and the employment of both unskilled labor and intellectual labor