COLA MOBILE. — It is the legal technical instrument designed to maintain, over time, the purchasing power of the working and employed masses relative to a given period. This period is established as a reference base for fixing the indices necessary to determine, from an economic and social standpoint, the variations in remuneration and compensation for each type of work in relation to changes in the cost of living.
The adoption of the c. m. as a particular system of remuneration for workers and employees is implemented, in countries with significant industrial development, especially during periods of economic disorder and monetary instability, when frequent variations in commodity prices—and thus in the cost of living—occur.
The establishment of a c. m. system therefore requires, in advance:
a) the fixing, first and foremost, of a cost-of-living index;
b) the determination of the remunerations subject to variations;
c) the determination of the time period to which the ratio for applying the system is attributed.
This involves resolving highly complex problems on the part of representatives of the categories involved. Thus, the fixing of the cost-of-living index can only be done after drawing up a typical family budget and resolving the issue of prices (whether only political prices or only free-market prices should be taken into account).
Regarding the identification of the remuneration to be subject to the c. m., the general criterion adopted is to limit variations to only a portion of the remuneration. This is done to ensure a certain stability over time for the remaining portion and, at the same time, to achieve a certain redistribution of real income within the categories.
The origins of the c. m. for wages and salaries in Italy date back to 1945, when it became necessary to reorganize the criteria for remunerating labor by linking its progression to that of the cost of living. Since it was not feasible to consider too frequent adjustments to labor contracts, the mechanism of the c. m. was devised. It was first instituted for the northern provinces by an agreement dated December 6, 1945, and extended to the central-southern provinces by an agreement dated May 23, 1946. Finally, with an agreement dated October 27, 1946, the c. m. system was unified for the entire country. A four-year period of experience (October 1946–October 1950) revealed both the substantial soundness of the c. m. system and certain insufficiencies. After lengthy negotiations that began at the end of 1948, a new agreement was concluded in Milan on March 21, 1951. The main merit of this agreement lies in the establishment of a new family budget, based on which the national cost-of-living index is calculated as the average of expenses in 16 provincial and regional capitals: Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Ancona, Pescara, Perugia, Rome, Naples, Potenza, Bari, Catanzaro, Palermo, and Cagliari. Any upward variation in the cost-of-living index results in an increase in the contingency allowance, based on specific tables differentiated according to the employee’s qualifications, age, gender, and workplace. Any downward variation in the same index leads to a reduction in the contingency allowance, but this occurs with specific adjustments to make the decline of the c. m. slower than its rise: specifically, until the total reduction reaches 11% below the cost-of-living level of the November–December 1950 bimester. Once this limit is exceeded, the mechanism will function fully, and if the cost of living, relative to the base period, increases by more than 25%, the entire system must be renegotiated.
It is a widely held view that the automatic application of the c. m. to labor remuneration corresponds to a principle of justice. However, some economists argue that once it becomes systematic and universal, it may risk fostering the phenomenon of devaluation and thereby cause serious harm by encouraging those who might otherwise be shielded from market pressures and the defense of the standard of living.
**SCALIGERO, GIULIO CESARE** — Portrait. Engraving from the 18th century, after D. P. Freher, *Theatrum virorum eruditione clarorum*, Nuremberg 1638, p. 1231. Copy in the Vatican Library.