Abstract
The study about the growing space for economic financial strategy of Italian local governments, within a business economic perspective, starts from the recognition of the way they work, which is always influenced by Public Authority model and national financing system. This paper focusing the road leads from a centralised to a decentralised system of finance throw an analysis of local taxes, transfer payments, income not deriving from taxation and income from equity borrowing. An evaluation of the degree of financial autonomy of local authorities can be considered by means of a series of indicators. The second part is a sort of European perspective about Italian transformation from a system of derived financing to one of autonomous financing. This changing must be looked in the light of the wider transformations taking place in the countries of the European Union. In the last part, in order to examine the factors determining an increase in the role of economic and financial strategy of local authorities, this paper aims at describing another important process that have characterised local public economies over recent years: the divestment of property and the process of privatisation. Keywords: local governments, Italian public sector, financing, equity, financial strategy, privatisation, economic strategy.