Organising the smart future of living and mobility: A welfare paradox

The research aims to critically examine the renewed Italian regulations on fringe benefits for mixed-use company cars, which came into force in 2025, with a specific focus on the implications for social equity and the transition to electric mobility. The main objective is to highlight the potential disparities in treatment between electric, hybrid and combustion vehicles, as well as the existence of welfare paradoxes. In fact, the primary aim is to analyse the potential paradox of an incentive policy for sustainable mobility that, through the reduction of taxation on company electric vehicles, may inadvertently exacerbate social and economic inequalities. The research is based on a critical perspective of social functionalism, highlighting how the persistence of paradigms of unequal distribution of benefits can be legitimised by policies that incentivise logics of position and social status. The research adopts a mixed methodological approach, based on a field analysis managed by questionnaires and interviews (181 respondents). The authors offer policymakers insights into the dynamics that condition the electric transition, implemented through regulatory incentives, highlighting the risk of generating social frictions and welfare paradoxes. The results of the analysis highlight an unequal treatment that considerably favours electric vehicles, potentially creating a double advantage for high-income individuals and organisations. This could lead to a regulatory imbalance that manipulates the situation in the automotive market, also hindering a fair requalification of company car fleets.