The financialization of the Italian welfare system: the case of Fondazione Cariplo

Since the global financial crisis, the importance of financial resources, instruments and actors in the Italian welfare system has intensified. In the national academic debate, this change has been mostly interpreted as a sign of social innovation. This paper argues, on the contrary, that it might be better understood as an empirical evidence of the financialization of welfare. The concept of financialization is related, on one side, to a finance-led growth regime of capital accumulation and, on the other, to a comprehensive reshaping of both the public sector and individual lives. While scholars have explored a variety of financial instruments applied to public finance, less attention has been paid to the modalities by which financial relationships are embedded in the provision and consumption of welfare services. The following analysis of Fondazione Cariplo in Italy aims to fill this gap. The results show that the conditional grants offered by Fondazione Cariplo to non-profit organizations play a role in the normalization of financial relationships in the Italian welfare system