Subsidiare

Subsidiare is an Italian verb that means to provide subsidies or financial support to a person, organization, project, or sector. The act can involve direct payments, tax credits, price supports, grants, or guarantees designed to reduce costs or influence behavior.

In public policy and economics, subsidies are used to promote welfare, correct market failures, support strategic or underserved sectors, or stimulate research and development. Subsidies can be targeted to specific groups (such as farmers or students) or broad-based. They may be delivered through grants, subsidized loans, tax incentives, price controls, or regulatory relief. Subsidization can achieve social or economic objectives, but it may also entail budgetary costs and potential inefficiencies, crowding out private investment, or creating distortions if not carefully designed or time-limited. Oversight, evaluation, and sunset clauses are common governance tools to mitigate these risks.

Related terms include the noun sussidio, meaning subsidy, and the corporate term subsidiaria, which refers to a subsidiary—a company controlled by another entity. While subsidies involve financial support, a subsidiary denotes an organizational relationship where one company owns or controls another. The two concepts can intersect when a parent company receives or provides financial support to its subsidiary, though they describe different phenomena: one is a policy instrument, the other a legal-structural relationship.

See also: subsidy, subsidization, subsidiary, corporate subsidy.