ABSTRACT
The theory of fiscal federalism' asserts that, in the presence of a significant variety of preferences among the residents of the different communities, a local set of public interventions and expenditures will be more efficient than the uniformity typically associated to the centralized government provisions. In other words, decentralization means differentiation. The Italian Constitution is inspired' by the ideal of decentralization, but it also states a constraint to the action of local governments, introducing the principle of the basic level of services relating to civil and social rights that must be guaranteed throughout the national territory. From this standpoint, it should be noted that the experience of Trentino-Alto-Adige in the field of formal education is unmatched throughout the rest of Italy. The only situation that appears to stand out from the rest is that represented by the combination of the three autonomies of Trentino-Alto-Adige: the Region, the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano.
