A rebate meant to lift Italy's economy widens a class divide

The pandemic worsened global inequality. Now some measures meant to help are widening the gulf

- By Alessandra Migliaccio and Vernon Silver

It’s early evening on Via del Pellegrino, a narrow cobblestone street in the heart of ancient Rome, and Orsola Polimeno is taking delivery of a pair of bright-orange-detailed folding bicycles. The matching bikes will be a pleasure to ride, she says, but the purchase is even sweeter, because the €1,500 ($1,775) she’s spending will net her a government check for €900. The payout comes thanks to a provision in Italy’s Covid-19 recovery plan that offers 60% cashback to buyers of greener transport such as bicycles, electric scooters, even Segways and hoverboards.

The rebate goes up to €500 per person, corresponding to the purchase of a bike costing €833. That means to take full advantage you’d have to be the sort of Italian who has that kind of money sitting around. Case in point: Polimeno and her husband selected his-and-hers folding models because they’d fit into their vacation home on the coast of Tuscany. “I’d been planning to buy bikes to get around at the beach,” she says. “The subsidy was an opportunity I had to jump at.”

Like many Covid-relief provisions around the globe— trillions of dollars for everything from modest rebates on restaurant meals to tax breaks worth millions to megacorporations—the bike bailout benefits lots of folks who aren’t the most in need. It even helps widen income gaps that the outbreak has exposed and exacerbated.