Phd in PRIVATE AUTONOMY BUSINESS, WORK AND
PROTECTION OF RIGHTS IN EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Thesis title: Povertà e salario minimo. Il lavoro tramite piattaforma

The research investigates the phenomenon of in-work poverty and the role of law in regulating employment dynamics, in light of the economic and social transformations that have affected the sustainability of the constitutional model of labour in the Italian legal system. Adopting a comparative private law perspective, the dissertation analyses the relationship between economic structure and legal superstructure, highlighting how law, while influencing individual behaviour, is insufficient on its own to modify the power relations generated by economic choices and labour market policies. The first chapter addresses the issue of “working poverty” and the possible fracture between the formal and material Constitution in Italy. The second chapter examines the question of the minimum wage — in its statutory, judicial, and collectively negotiated forms — through a comparison of national and European experiences, with particular attention to the German case. The third chapter focuses on platform work as a paradigm of flexible capitalism that redefines the traditional categories of subordination. The analysis underscores the progressive weakening of labour protections and the need to reconsider the role of law as a tool for restoring social and democratic balance.