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Innovation Clusters in the European Regions
Get PDFThis paper investigates on the presence of innovation clusters in the European regions. The analysis is based on a databank set up by CRENoS on regional patenting at the European Patent Office classified by ISIC sectors (2 digit), which considers 175 regions of 17 countries in Europe. Firstly, an analysis of the spatial distribution of innovation activities in Europe is performed. Some global and local indicators for spatial association are presented, indicating the presence of a general dependence process in the distribution of the phenomena under examination. The analysis is implemented for 23 manufacturing sectors to assess for the presence of significant differences in their spatial features. Moreover, the extent and strength of spatial externalities are evaluated for two periods: 1994-96 and 1999-01. Secondly, this paper contributes to the analysis of the process of spatial agglomeration of innovative activities by investigating directly its determinants. Our main purpose is to identify the extent to which the degree of specialisation or diversity in a region may affect the innovative activities in a particular local industry. Other local factors are also tested such as home market effect and other agglomeration phenomena. Moreover the geographical extent of such effects is measured by means of the usual tests of spatial econometrics
Primi dati sui pipistrelli dell'area mineraria Montevecchio-Ingurtosu (Guspini-Arbus, Sardegna Sud-Occidentale)
Get PDFA study in the mining area of Montevecchio-Ingurtosu, in territory of Guspini and Arbus (South western Sardinia), found 8 species of bats were present: Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Rhinolophus hipposideros, Myotis myotis, Myotis capaccinii, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus kuhlii, Hypsugo savii, Tadarida teniotis, 17 roosts were localized, 11 in subterranean cavities and 6 in building
Growth and Employment: A survey on the Demand Side of the Labour Market
Get PDFUntil recently, the neoclassical growth theory and the neoclassical labour market theory have independently evolved over time without communicating to each other. The neoclassical growth theory (Solow, 1956), born after the second world war, assumes full employment. On the other hand, the unemployment theory (Friedman, 1968) turned the attention to the problem of inflation, ignoring that one of growth. In this paper I present recent contributions suggesting that such a sharp division may be unjustified from a theoretical viewpoint
Indagine fitosociologica sulle praterie a Brachypodium Retusum (Pers.) beauv. della Sardegna
Get PDFThe grasslands characterized by the dominance of Brachypodium retusum occurring in Sardinia are examined. These communities, belonging to the Thero-Brachypodion ramosi alliance (Lygeo-Stipetea class), are quite widespread in the Island, where they usually grow on carbonate substrata from the sea level up to 1300 m of altitude. On the basis of several phytosociological relevés, it has been possible to recognize six associations well-differentiated from the floristic, ecological and syndynamic point of view. The autonomy of these associations is also supported by a numerical multivariate analysis based on quantitative data (dendrogram and P.C.A.). The associations surveyed are the following: Dorycnio suffruticosi-Stipetum offneri ass. nova, localized on summit plateaux at an altitude of 700-1200 m (CE
Sardinia), Stipo bromoidis-Astragaletum verrucosi ass. nova, very rare and circumscribed to the coastal
hills (W Sardinia), Triseto splendentis-Brachypodietum retusi ass. nova, colonizing more or less stabilized
screes at 200-900 m of altitude (NE Sardinia), Asphodelo africani-Brachypodietum ramosi Biondi & Mossa 1992 corr., thermo-xerophilous community linked to coastal stands (S Sardinia), Ranunculo graminei-Brachypodietum retusi ass. nova, orophilous community growing on jointed rocky places at an altitude of 1100-1300 m (CE Sardinia), Melico ciliatae-Brachypodietum retusi ass. nova, found on the
coastal screes of Figarolo islet (NE Sardinia). Besides, a floristic comparison among the hitherto known associations belonging to this alliance is given
Technological activity in the european regions
Get PDFThis paper investigates technological activity in the European regions. The analysis is based on a statistical databank set up by CRENoS on regional patenting at the European Patent Office spanning from 1978 to 2001 and classified by ISIC sectors at the 2 digit level. We consider 175 regions of 17 countries in Europe, the 15 members of the European Union plus Switzerland and Norway. An analysis of the spatial distribution of innovation activities in Europe is performed. Some global and local indicators for spatial association are presented, signaling the presence of a general dependence process in the distribution of the phenomena under examination. The analysis is implemented for different manufacturing sectors to assess for the presence of significant differences in the their spatial features. Moreover, the extent and strength of spatial externalities are evaluated for some subperiods spanning from the early eighties to the late nineties
Collateral and Risk Sharing in group lending: evidence from an urban microcredit program
Get PDFEmpirical research on the impact and determinants of group lending is by now substantial. However, very little is known about the possible role of collateral to mitigate incentive problems in group lending. This is because microcredit programs have normally been implemented in rural areas of developing countries. Indeed, the reason for this choice is lack of credit access since agents with collateral are very rare. Also, to the extent that rural communities have tight-knit hierarchical structures information about borrowers is accessible and the enforcement of sanctions via social networks makes collateral superfluous for default mitigation. Yet, in an urban setting in which information is more atomized and social sanctions are not as powerful, collateral may have an important role in group lending. First, we illustrate in a model the role of collateral to mitigate group default. Second, we use data from a group lending program implemented in 2001 in Cotonou, the largest city in Benin with more than one million inhabitants. We empirically explore the risk profile of individual borrowers and resulting group heterogeneity to identify the role of personal contributions to investment projects. Our evidence suggests that while diversification within groups facilitates risk pooling, it also increases expected bailout or group default costs for low risk borrowers. Collateral helps offset and alleviate potential negative spillovers from group default induced by membership of borrowers with risky projects. The presence of borrowers with collateral facilitates access to credit for group members without collateral, who in turn provide insurance against group default. We find joint liability to be a mechanism for risk sharing in a setting where poor households lack resources for collateral and insurance markets are missing
An econometric analysis of student withdrawal and progression in post-reform Italian Universities
Get PDFAs in much of Europe, and in the particular context of the Bologna Convention on tertiary education, the Italian university system has experienced substantial reform in recent years, the major aims of which include increasing the participation, progression and retention rates of students in higher education. Reform has reduced the length of undergraduate degree programmes to three years with the intention that students should be able to graduate at an earlier age than in the past, in line with graduates from other European countries. This paper offers a first econometric analysis of student withdrawal and progression three years after the introduction of major reform. We use administrative data on students of two Italian universities in a probit model of the probability that the student drops out, and an OLS model of student progression. Our analyses suggest that, notwithstanding the reforms, the drop-out (withdrawal) rate is still very high and only a small proportion of students are likely to complete their studies within the institutional time. In particular, we find that differences in students’ prior educational background and performance have remarkably large effects on their withdrawal and progression probabilities. We infer from our results that poor retention and completion rates of Italian university students are unlikely to improve without further significant institutional change
Marshall's ceteris paribus in a dynamic framework
Get PDFThe paper aims to propose a formalization of the concept of ceteris paribus (CP) by means of a dynamic model. The basic result of the analysis is that the CP clause may assume essentially different meanings according to (1) the kind of variables assumed to be ”frozen” and (2) the length of the time horizon. It is then possible to distinguish, respectively, between an historical and an endogenous CP and, within the latter, between a short-run and a long-run CP. This double analytical distinction helps in understanding the role the CP clause plays in economic dynamics. Finally, the notion of long-run CP seems to suggest an extension of the standard view of the CP concept: interpreted as dynamics on manifolds, it still reduces the degree of complexity of a system even if variables ”frozen” in it need not to be constant
La necropoli di Mitza Salida - Masullas - Oristano (OR)
Get PDFThe necropolis of Mitza Salida lies near the little country of Masullas, 35 km distant from the city of Oristano, in Sardinia. This necropolis had a frequency of 2 centuries, from the first to the third d.C., in a full Roman imperial period
Italian Biomedical Scientific Web Site quality Evaluation
Get PDFDue to the uncontrolled spread of new biomedical Web Sites, it becomes essential for the scientific community to make possible the evaluation of the quality and reliance of the online information repository content.
The Internet, so far, undoubtedly represents a democratic and free accessible information system, it gives the same importance to everyone who has something to communicate, share or just sell, without any distinction between scientifically sound resources and the others.
Often computer graphics and free access are guaranteed but not the information content: texts are not certificated and no references are furnished.
In most of the cases it is impossible to know the authors, the issues, the bibliographical references, and the updating frequence as well.
This also happens even in Web Sites usually read by doctors, researchers (or even patients) that need to know how to approach to serious topics, such as diseases, new therapies or pharmacological treatments.
At the moment, just a few examples of organizations devoted to the Web site certification are avaliable. One of them is the HON Fondation which, after the evaluation of some basic caracteristics of the Wed site, gives "quality marks" stating if it can be considered as an affordable information source.
From this standpoint this paper has the aim to develop a methodology in order to evaluate the scientific quality of the Web sites in biomedical area (human and animal health). This methodology was setted up through a qualitative analysis of web sites of the main Italian Scientific Societies and Associations.
After the selection of the web resources through a research carried out on the most important net spiders (Scirus, Google, Altavista), each site was analyzed through an "Evaluation Questionnaire1" based on the criteria
previously adopted by scientific organizations such as HON, DISCERN, and IZSUM.
Results have been interpreted and discussed