The Italian Society of Public Economics (SIEP) is a non-profit scientific association operating in the Italian Public Finance tradition. Founded in 1988, it has now more than 300 members. Public Economics employs the instruments of modern economic analysis to study the functioning of the public sector as a whole, and of its different components, on the revenue and expenditure side. The XXVII Annual Conference on Public Policies in Financial Crisis, has been held in Ferrara (Italy) on September 24th and 25th, 2015 .