All in, against all odds. Path shift in family policy via cross-party agreement: the case of the Single Universal Allowance reform in Italy

Abstract

The introduction of the Single Universal Child Allowance in 2021 marked a sharp turning point in Italian family policy. Presented as a major revolution aimed at combating the country's alarmingly low birth rates as well as child poverty, the reform was also meant to rationalise the benefits system while overcoming the historical fragmentation and uneven protection granted to families. Against this backdrop, the article contributes to the literature from two different angles. First, the study offers fresh empirical evidence of the path-shifting scope of the reform, marking a rupture with the longstanding weak model of income support. Second, the article engages from an interpretative standpoint with the puzzling emergence of a cross-party consensus around approval. Drawing from the comparative literature on institutional change and the modernisation of family policies, the article asks which factors made it possible—after decades of substantial inertia—to overcome path dependency through cross-party agreement in Italy, providing an in-depth, original examination of parties' positions throughout the legislative process and identifying key elements of agreement and conflict.