In recent years, state aid spending has been directly related to the fiscal capacity of different European countries. The European Commission has repeatedly pointed out that among the most important determinants of aid spending is precisely Gross Domestic Product. Moreover, the aid spending gap widened during the pandemic, during which countries with greater economic and fiscal potential were able to support their economies more easily.
Moreover, a similar dynamic reverberated at the regional level. In the Italian case, in fact, during recessions the northern regions were able to support their production systems to a greater extent than the southern regions, thanks to a greater availability of their own resources.